Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic is off to a good start to his NBA career. He’s averaging 19.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. His high points have looked exactly what people thought he could be and that’s very exciting. It’s always fun when a rookie enters the NBA and immediately finds successes. Unfortunately, Doncic might have to start missing games.
Doncic has been playing through some ankle soreness lately, but it’s reached a point now to where it’s impacting his ability to get on the court. Rick Carlisle told reporters on Sunday that due to that soreness Doncic did not practice and his status for the Mavericks next game was unknown.
Per Coach Carlisle, Luka did not practice due to a sore ankle. https://t.co/sztC1s1TMY
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 4, 2018
What’s concerning about this is the lack of detail is what is causing Doncic’s sore ankle. Is this going to be a reoccurring injury that will impact him over the rest of the season, or is this something minor that will improve after a little bit of rest? Most basketball fans are probably cheering for the latter because nobody wants to see a promising young player on the bench. We all want to see them playing and thriving.
It will be interesting to see how Dallas performs without Doncic in the lineup. He’s already established himself as one of the Mavs better players and they struggle enough as is with him in the lineup. It’s hard to see them playing well without him, but given the start to this season they’ll be wise to be cautious with him if there’s any possibility of this becoming a longer term issue if they rush him back.
