Ten seconds into his first game in 19 months, Kyrie Irving drove the lane and finished a reverse layup. That was the answer. Everything after it was confirmation.
Irving started and scored 17 points with three assists in 22 minutes as Dallas beat Houston 132-115 in Macao on Sunday, the second of the NBA’s two China Games. He had 14 of those points in the first half, including a deep three in the first quarter and another early in the third.
Nineteen Months Is a Long Time
Irving tore the ACL in his left knee in March 2025, during the first quarter of a loss to Sacramento. He made two free throws and left the floor in tears. He missed the final 20 games of that season and the entire 2025-26 season.
He is 34 now, the age at which a knee reconstruction usually takes something permanent off a guard’s first step. Sunday did not look like that. His first drive was a full-speed finish at the rim, and he spent the rest of his minutes beating Jabari Smith Jr. off the catch.
“Conditioning is going great,” Irving said ahead of the trip. “I feel great.” He also flagged the honest part, that he is still rebuilding his instincts and his proprioception, and that no practice fully replicates a game.
What It Means for Dallas
The Mavericks had lost in the same building the night before, 135-117. With Irving organizing the offense, the shape of it changed. Dallas led 58-51 at the break and 95-85 after three quarters.
That matters for a team whose entire offensive structure last season had to be improvised. Dallas spent 2025-26 asking players to do jobs they were not built for because the man who creates out of a dead possession was in rehab. Sunday was the first look at the version of this roster the front office actually drew up.
Cooper Flagg finished with 14 points, seven assists and two steals in 25 minutes, though he started 1-for-7 from the field. Sergio de Larrea added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists and posted a game-high plus-34. Marcus Smart scored 20 in his first game for Houston.
Why This Is Bigger Than a Preseason Cameo
Anyone filing this away as a feel-good exhibition appearance is underrating it badly. Irving did not look like a veteran being eased back into shape. He looked like a primary shot creator on a roster that spent a full season without one, and he did it against the team Dallas opens the regular season against on October 21 in Houston.
The caveats are real and worth naming. It was 22 minutes in a preseason game. Dallas has not published a minutes plan, has not said whether Irving will play back-to-backs, and has not announced any restriction on him for opening night.
There is also the matter of what he does for everyone else. Flagg shot 1-for-7 in the first half and still finished with seven assists, because the floor was wider and the reads were easier with Irving occupying two defenders every time he touched the ball.
None of that changes what the floor looked like with him on it. Dallas has not had a guard who can manufacture a shot from nothing since the night he went down, and the first ten seconds in Macao said he still can.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.