👋 Good morning! Only one more sleep for the DLLS Mavs crew and me before we head to Las Vegas for the annual NBA Summer League. We can’t wait to get out there! If you’re an NBA fan and have never been before, I highly, highly recommend getting out there. There are so many games all day, every day to catch, plus it’s just about the best place in the world to see stars, future stars, and everyone in between.

There’s even a chess tournament going on while I’m out there put together by Derrick Rose, featuring some current and former NBA players coached by professional chess players. That’s an event that was truly made for me. If you’ll be in Vegas at all this week, let us know and we’ll come say hi! — Bobby Karalla

It’s been four months since Kyrie Irving suffered a torn ACL and there’s still no specific timeline for his return. That’s not a bad thing. Irving himself about a month ago said during a Twitch stream that he doesn’t want to come back until he’s feeling “150,000 percent better.” That wasn’t in reference to the regular season, by the way. That was in reference to possibly even missing the playoffs.

Irving should be patient and avoid rushing back. During this spring’s playoffs we saw Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton come back from serious injuries only to suffer even more severe ones, and now they’ll both likely miss the entire 2025-26 campaigns. ACL injuries are so difficult, especially for relatively smaller guards like Irving, who have to rely on their quickness, explosive first steps, and ability to change directions in order to beat defenders. That doesn’t only require physical excellence, but also a player’s own mental trust in their body to perform those moves. Rehab isn’t only a physical process.

In the days and weeks after his injury, reporters like Shams Charania floated the idea of Irving returning to action as early as January. Some Mavs fans understandably were delighted to hear such an optimistic timeframe and have run with it ever since. It could very well end up being the case that Irving is out there by then, but based on other recent ACL recovery timelines, it could also just as likely be in March or April, if not later. There’s no way of knowing when he’ll be back on the floor. We’ve got to let Kyrie get back to being Kyrie, no matter what it means for the 2025-26 season. He’s signed for three years, not one.

The DLLS Mavs crew talked a whole lot about it on yesterday’s show.

I know it’s the same old song and dance every year for the Cowboys, but there really are plenty of reasons to believe the team could have a better 2025 than whatever happened in 2024. Dak is back and will hopefully be more responsible with the ball thanks to a significant upgrade at wideout in George Pickens. The running game should actually exist. The defense appears to be healthier and deeper.

So why, then, does one sportsbook only favor the Cowboys in six of their 17 games this season? And why is the over/under 7.5 wins? That second number in particular seems low to me. They’re even 3-point underdogs at Chicago! Maybe we’re too high on them… or maybe everyone else is too low. Which is it?

Clarence Hill broke it all down here.

Our DLLS Stars crew asked a simple, yet poignant, question on yesterday’s show: Have the Stars gotten any better? And do they even need to? (My personal commentary/plea: Yes please, make something happen!)

The first one was fun. Let’s do it again!

Be sure to subscribe to our shows wherever you listen to your podcasts. Traffic can be the worst, and one of the best ways I get through it is by listening to the audio versions of our DLLS shows. You should, too!

Bobby Karalla
DLLS Sports Head of Content​
[email protected]