Kyrie Irving described his ACL injury as a transformative experience, saying the extended recovery period gave him an opportunity to reflect on his career, leadership and life away from basketball.
Speaking at Dallas Mavericks media day on Friday, Irving said he is entering the season without restrictions, although he expects ongoing communication with the medical staff regarding back-to-backs and his workload.
“Obviously there’ll be some conversations with the medical staff about back-to-backs and just the quality of where I am,” Irving said. “Just being honest day-to-day and just having that fluid communication. I think that’s most important.”
Irving, who turns 35 next March and is entering his 16th NBA season, acknowledged the mental challenge of returning from a torn ACL.
“Coming back from a traumatic injury, it’s not the easiest thing to overcome,” he said. “Being able to put in perspective of just the injury happening, getting past kind of the mental hurdle of just the fear or the scary moments of just, ‘Am I going to be back the same? Am I going to be better?’”
However, Irving ultimately views the injury in a remarkably positive light.
“My injury was probably the best thing that happened to me,” he said. “I was obsessively looking at the craft of basketball and playing the majority of minutes, and I didn’t think I probably would have been honest a few about a year ago or two about how I was feeling physically.”
The time away from the court also forced Irving to consider what he wanted from the next stage of his career.
“The last year gave me a lot of time to reflect on where do I want to be as a player, but most importantly where do I want to be as a man,” Irving said. “How can people look to me to be a better leader, better communicator, be more emotionally vulnerable and also taking the approach of acting like my age, finally being 34 years old.”
Irving said the approximately 18-to-19-month recovery period taught him the importance of patience and support after experiencing setbacks in his rehabilitation.
“I had to take some rest and learn what rest actually is and healing,” he said. “I think all of that just really taught me that I’m not in it alone. I need a great team around me. I need great support.”
The Mavericks guard also believes he improved as a leader while watching games and practices from the sidelines.
“The biggest learning lesson was what does patience look like when you really want something,” Irving said. “I really wanted to be on the court, but I still had to learn what patience felt like and giving my teammates grace.”
Irving also reflected on becoming more involved as a mentor to Dallas’ younger players, including Cooper Flagg.
“I feel like I got better as a person, and that was the foundation, and everything else followed,” Irving said.
Now, Irving believes he is ready to return to competition.
“I have the confidence of a champion. I’m a champion in this league,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being able to lace up my shoes, be on the court with my teammates, and show everybody what I got again.”
He added: “It’s just like riding a bike.”
