Kyrie Irving obliterates desperate Mavericks conspiracy amid brutal collapse

The Dallas Mavericks' nightmare season has taken an incredibly dark turn over the last week, as they lost Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL on Monday night against the Sacramento Kings. Irving looked like he was going to be Dallas' saving grace until Anthony Davis returns from injury, and him going down ultimately ended the Mavericks' season.

While there is still hope that Davis could return at some point, the vibes around the fan base are extremely low. Irving has been Dallas' leader and the heart and soul of the team, and now fans won't be seeing him play a game anytime soon.

With Irving going down, fans have created their fair share of conspiracy theories about how this injury could have happened. Fans immediately grasped to the fact that Irving's minutes and workload were way up, and tried to connect the dots to that being the reason that he tore his ACL.

Kyrie Irving dismisses theory blaming Jason Kidd for his injury

Jason Kidd immediately shut down this conspiracy theory when asked about it earlier this week, and Irving seems to side with his head coach according to a photo he posted on his Instagram story.

Irving posted a photo of him stepping on Jonas Valanciunas' foot during the drive to the rim in which he tore his ACL with the caption "Too many minutes??? Or did I get knocked off balance?"

The picture clearly shows that he was knocked off balance during his drive to the rim, ultimately causing him to tear his ACL later on that play. Irving sided with his head coach when it comes to the minutes that he has been playing recently, and the injury was just a freak accident.

With all of the injuries the Mavericks have suffered this season, Irving was forced to play much more minutes than he was used to, but he assures everyone that was not the reason that he got injured. Crazy and unfortunate injuries sometimes happen in sports, and Irving is alluding to just that.

While it's clear that Irving's minutes per game were reaching dangerous levels considering his age and injury history, it didn't correlate to his injury. Both things can be true, and Mavericks fans have to accept that.

He has probably seen all of the backlash that Kidd has been getting over the last few days, and he silenced the narrative that increased minutes led to his season-ending ACL tear. Irving has spewed nothing but positivity since the injury happened, and the recovery process has already started for him. He was even spotted at Dallas' game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, and while his return to the hardwood won't be for a while, seeing him back at the American Airlines Center was a good sign.

While Irving has a player option this summer, his future looks to be bright in Dallas next to Davis, and time will tell if they can fulfill Nico Harrison's vision of reaching the NBA Finals with them at the core. Irving is going to have significant weight on his shoulders next season once he returns considering the moves Dallas makes this summer to build the roster around him and Davis, and all eyes will be on them as they try to get the Mavericks back to the NBA Finals.