DALLAS — Kyrie Irving is only 34, which doesn’t make him old, but he’s been in the NBA since he was 19, and his assessment of the league is not some “get off my lawn” ramblings of a bitter old man, even if it sounds like it.

Two days before the Dallas Mavericks started their regular season, on Wednesday in Houston, Irving was available to the media and I asked him, in light of players such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant playing well into their late 30s, if he thinks he can extend his career another five years or so.

The short answer is no. The long answer is sad.

“You have social media and gambling, which is running rampant, and it’s not the same NBA that I fell in love with as a kid, and I’m very much aware of that. And I don’t say that as a negative thing,” Irving said Monday at the team’s headquarters after practice.

“It’s just when I came in, we were not doing ‘tipping’ and ‘gambling’ meetings. Mental health was this foreign subject. The game has changed; it’s become less human. It’s more robotic. My next few years, do I really love that aspect? The next generation is making money younger, addictions are running rampant, and I don’t see myself playing in the NBA when I’m 42 or 43.”

There is a lot going on in this answer, and while his time with the Mavs is likely short for a totally different reason, his remaining years in the league don’t have a LeBron feel.

Irving’s future with the Mavs

When the Mavs tipoff against the Rockets on Wednesday night in Houston, it will be Irving’s first regular-season game since March 3, 2025 when he suffered a torn left ACL. At the time of his injury, he was playing as well as he has in a career that will eventually “end” with Pro Basketball Hall of Fame induction.

This will be the first regular-season game he will play with Mavs forward Cooper Flagg; the Mavs front office wants to see this combination live for an extended period before making any more major decisions about its roster.

The team hasn’t made the playoffs since it reached the 2024 NBA Finals, and since then it has fallen into a cavern of irrelevance in a way few sports franchises ever have in such a short period.

The Mavs are expected to have a losing record for the third straight year, and their projected season win total in the area of 36.

The shock, and disgust, of the Luka Doncic trade has mostly faded, and the goal of going back to the NBA Finals has been replaced by baby steps.

“We want to play meaningful games late in the season, and whatever that means will be determined by health and how much we improve,” Mavs first-year coach Dusty May said Monday. “To be playing the most meaningful games late in the season is our goal.”

If the Mavs are not on a path to hit that goal, Irving’s status will become the priority. Irving has a player-option on his contract for the 2027-28 season, and will be unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2028.

If the team is not winning enough around the tandem of Flagg and Irving, the Mavs will have no choice but to consider trade options.

Whatever Irving did to his reputation over the years from his time in Cleveland, Boston and Brooklyn has been repaired because of his time with the Mavericks. When he’s healthy, he’s played exceptionally well, and off the floor he’s been a good guy and zero distraction.

A healthy Irving would be an asset to a contending team.

The Mavs will have to decide if Irving is better off with their rebuilding team.

Irving’s view of the future NBA

NBA commissioner Adam Silver was the first of the major sports bosses in North America to explore, lobby for and ultimately embrace gambling. He acknowledged the legalization of sports gambling was a revenue source that was too great to ignore.

Between that, and the allowance of college players making money, it has permanently altered the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR, IndyCar and the rest. Now throw in the reliance of analytics to dictate strategy, and much of the flow and spontaneity in a game has been replaced by data-driven movement.

This is the evolution of the game, and the league, that Irving doesn’t like, but he also knows it’s all here.

The gambling animals are out of the zoo, and putting the meerkats and lions back in their cages is not going to happen. Gambling is part of the major sports matrix now.

The data dudes have created their place, and value, in every sport, and percentages direct possessions, matchups and everything else.

Irving calls his love of basketball an eternal flame, but his feelings about the NBA have changed.

Because it’s not the same league he fell in love with.

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