The Dallas Mavericks nearly came back from a 28-point deficit on Christmas Day against the Minnesota Timberwolves before falling a little short, something that was especially impressive considering the absence of Luka Doncic. During the second quarter, Doncic made his way to the back in some serious pain with what looked like a calf injury, which held him out for the remainder of the game.
Unfortunately for the Mavs, the injury is going to cost Doncic far more than just the second half of one game. According to Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon of ESPN, Doncic will be sidelined for at least the next month, at which point the injury is going to get reevaluated — this, of course, means that he could end up missing much more than just a month.
Via ESPN:
Doncic has a history of injuries to that calf. Most recently, he missed all of this season’s training camp and preseason because of a left calf contusion. This is the third time Doncic has strained the calf in recent years. He missed the first three games of the 2022 playoffs after straining it during the regular-season finale and was sidelined for most of the 2023 preseason after straining it during a practice in Madrid.
The most unfortunate part of this for Doncic is that he will almost certainly not be eligible for any end-of-season honors due to the league’s recently adopted rules about players who miss a certain number of games. Doncic has already missed eight games this season, and if he misses more than 17 games in total this season, he can’t be named the league’s MVP or receive a spot on an All-NBA team. While the rule was instituted to encourage players to not take nights off, a situation like the one Doncic finds himself in is presumably an unintended consequence.
Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists in 35.7 minutes per game this season.
