Luka Doncic Shows Love to Kyrie After Knee Injury: 'Come Back Stronger Mi Hermano'

Being traded from the Dallas Mavericks didn't mean Luka Dončić stopped caring about former teammate Kyrie Irving.

Dončić reacted to the news of Irving's season-ending injury in a Tuesday Instagram story post.

"You will come back stronger mi hermano," the Los Angeles Lakers star wrote.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported earlier Tuesday that Irving would miss the rest of the Mavs' 2024-25 season with a torn ACL in his left knee.

The Mavs are now set to finish out the season without either Irving or Dončić, who was traded to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis in early February.

Irving said shortly after the trade he had been "really shocked" to hear Dončić had been moved.

“You just don’t imagine you’re going to get ready to go to sleep and then you find out news like that,” Irving said on Feb. 8, per CNN's Ben Morse. "It's still a grieving process right now. I miss my hermano."

When the two reunited for a Feb. 25 game between the Maverick and Lakers, Dončić used the same word to describe Irving.

“Kyrie is my hermano,” Dončić said after the Lakers' win. “We go way beyond basketball."

Dončić last played for the Mavericks on Dec. 25 before he suffered the injury that sidelined him for his final month with the team.

The Mavs then traded Dončić and brought in Davis, who was injured in his Feb. 8 Mavericks debut and hasn't played since.

That has left the team leaning on Irving, who has averaged a team-high 37.0 minutes per game since Dončić's Christmas Day injury. That total ramped up since the trade, leading Irving to lead the NBA in average minutes played from Feb. 4 to March 2, per Charania.

With Irving injured and Dončić in California, Mavs will have to hope for the return of Davis as soon as possible while working to hang on to the final play-in spot in the West.