The Dallas Mavericks’ worst nightmare came true when Luka Doncic injured his calf in the final game of the regular season against the San Antonio Spurs. That has sent the Mavericks into panic mode, as everyone associated with the team waits with bated breath to find out whether Doncic will play in the opening playoff game between Dallas and the Utah Jazz.
Early reports from the Mavs reveal that Doncic is definitely injured, but they haven’t indicated a timetable for the same. We are unlikely to get any information from the Mavs before Friday when they will be obligated by the league office to list players who won’t be available for the game.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Mavs are internally unsure on whether Doncic’s injury is as bad as they fear.
“There’s a lot of concern around how quickly Luka Doncic will be available in this playoff series against Utah. If this were the regular season, you wouldn’t even talk about Luka Doncic playing games this weekend. But it’s the postseason and a Dallas team that is built so much around Luka. This calf strain is a little more than a mild strain. They’re going to keep working on him around the clock… The hope is he will play in the series, but there’s uncertainty on whether he will be on the floor when the series starts on Saturday.”
Doncic won’t miss many games of the series, considering we saw him play on a twisted ankle during the 2020 NBA playoffs. However, it may be in the best interests of Dallas to rest Luka for the game on Saturday, but phase him into the series game 2 or 3.
Hopefully, this injury is minor and we get to see Doncic make a genuine run through the playoffs in a year where they stand a great chance to do so.
