Luka Doncic has gotten off to a scorching start to the season, averaging 29.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 8.9 assists per game, but early in the Mavs matchup with the Heat on Saturday night he left the game with a sprained right ankle.
Doncic would not return and the diagnosis given after the game was a “moderate right ankle sprain,” which is, on the whole, relatively good news. On Sunday, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that the hope is that Doncic will be able to return in “a couple of weeks,” and that he won’t miss real significant time.
Luka Doncic might be able to return within a couple of weeks after suffering a moderate right ankle sprain last night, sources told ESPN. Doncic likely misses upcoming stretch vs. East power (Bucks, Celtics, 76ers and Raptors this week), but Mavs feel they dodged a bullet.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 15, 2019
This, of course, is far from a firm timetable, but it gives a ballpark of when Dallas is optimistic they’ll get their young star back. As MacMahon notes, he’s likely to miss the entirety of this upcoming run against the top teams in the East, which isn’t an ideal schedule for a team missing it’s best player.
All told, it’s much better than it could’ve been for Doncic and the Mavs, but it’ll be very interesting to see how they handle two-plus weeks without their all-everything point forward. Doncic has, truly, been the catalyst for Dallas’ historic offense to this point and they’e managed to be excellent on that side of the ball despite the struggles of Kristaps Porzingis. Now, they’ll need to lean on Porzingis more and hope he finds his rhythm thrust back into the No. 1 role in the offense. If that happens, this could be a blessing in disguise provided the ankle injury doesn’t linger at all if it gets Porzingis back on track for when Doncic does return.
