Irving is listed on the injury report as he continues to deal with a lumbar back sprain. Meanwhile, Dereck Lively II (right ankle sprain), Luka Doncic (left calf strain) and Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) are all out for Friday's game. It is worth noting that Mavs head coach Jason Kidd previously said he expects Irving to play on Friday.

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, who has been sidelined since Jan. 1 with a back injury, returned to action in Tuesday’s home game against the Denver Nuggets. Irving finished with 11 points (on 4-for-18 shooting), four rebounds, two assists and four steals in Dallas’ 118-99 loss.

The 32-year-old doesn’t anticipate he’ll need surgery. He said he will “most likely” be available to play Wednesday in New Orleans.

Dallas improved to 23-19 while Oklahoma City remain top of the West with a 34-7 record. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, who are similarly resting power forward Zion Williamson.

Irving (back) is available for Friday's game versus the Thunder and won't have any restrictions, Eddie Sefko of the Mavericks' official site reports. Irving has been upgraded from questionable to available Friday despite dealing with a lingering back injury.

Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is listed as doubtful for Wednesday night's road game against the Pelicans, although his intention had been to play both games of a back-to-back after returning from a five-game absence due to a bulging disc in his lower back.

Dallas guard Kyrie Irving is expected to miss one to two weeks with a bulging disk in his back, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said a timeline for his return was not immediately known.

That decision forced the Thunder to stick close to the Mavericks' role players throughout the first quarter. Once Washington scored the first five points, Irving asserted himself and drained a 3-pointer before finishing at the basket with a finger roll to give the Mavericks an early 10-0 lead.

Kyrie Irving scored 25 points, Spencer Dinwiddie and P.J. Washington Jr. added 16 apiece and the Dallas Mavericks beat Oklahoma City 106-98 as Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed his first game of the season.

Once Hardy got to his feet, he limped to the bench where he sat down for a moment before going into the locker room.