Kyrie Irving reportedly suffered ACL tear, putting Mavs’ playoff hopes in further jeopardy

Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving was diagnosed with a left knee sprain Monday night, but the further analysis of his injury confirmed he suffered a torn ACL and will be done for the season, reported ESPN’s Shams Charania on Tuesday.

It’s another painful blow to the Mavericks, who traded franchise face Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis only for the latter to be injured in his first game with his new team.

Dallas (32-30) currently sits in 10th place, which is the last Western Conference play-in spot.

As of Tuesday morning, they are 3.5 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns (28-33) and 4.0 games up on the Portland Trail Blazers (28-34) in the chase to land a postseason berth.

Kyrie Irving seemed to know the extent of his knee injury

Irving was fouled Monday by DeMar DeRozan on a drive to the basket and his right foot landed on the foot of the Kings’ Jonas Valanciunas. He lost his balance and then landed awkwardly on his left leg, and his knee appeared to hyperextend before he fell to the floor.

Irving shot free throws for the Mavericks — with tears rolling down his cheeks — before leaving the floor in obvious pain late in the first quarter of Dallas’ 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

The Mavericks provided no postgame updates on the nature of Irving’s injury.

After he was hurt, Irving grabbed his leg and remained on the floor for multiple minutes.

Davis was among those helping Irving to the locker room before Kidd spoke to Irving, who then returned to take two free throws. After converting both to pull Dallas within 23-18, Irving was helped into the tunnel, and the Mavs quickly ruled him out for the rest of the night.

Irving’s decision to shoot free throws was reminiscent of the late Kobe Bryant, who made two game-tying foul shots for the Los Angeles Lakers after tearing his Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter of a victory over Golden State on April 12, 2013.

The Mavericks were already playing without Davis — who left his only game for Dallas on Feb. 8 with a groin injury after being acquired for Doncic — as well as Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and P.J. Washington Jr.

Dallas also lost reserve guard Jaden Hardy in the third period to a right ankle sprain and finished with nine players.

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