Luka Doncic was forced to exit Wednesday’s contest against the Golden State Warriors due to a left hamstring injury. Now, his status for the Dallas Mavericks’ Thursday game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is unknown.
Head coach Jason Kidd didn’t provide much details as well, sparking more concerns about the availability of their superstar.
Dallas Mavericks Star Luka Doncic Suffers Injury
For those who missed it, Doncic left Wednesday’s game in the fourth quarter due to a hamstring injury and didn’t return. While the Mavericks held on to win 109-99 without him, his condition was naturally a major talking point after the contest.
Kidd provided more details on what transpired leading to Doncic’s exit, via Grant Afseth of DallasBasketball.com, saying: “He gave me the signal that his hammy was tight, so we took him out.”
However, the Mavericks head coach shared that he doesn’t have more information on the severity of Doncic’s injury, only sharing that he’s undergoing more tests to get an assessment of his condition.
Kidd did call Doncic’s injury as a sore hamstring, though everything else with regards to his availability remains a question mark.
“I’ll have a better answer tomorrow. We’ll see. This is a fluid thing. This is being talked about now. We’ll find out in a couple of minutes if he’s going or not,” Kidd added.
Luka Doncic’s Injury Could Be Problematic for Dallas Mavericks
Sure enough, Dallas Mavericks fans are hoping that Luka Doncic’s injury isn’t serious and that he would be available to play against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
After all, without Doncic, it will be really hard for the Mavericks to beat the best team in the Western Conference–at least record-wise.
Doncic is at the center of the Dallas offense, and without him, they lose much of their offensive identity. That’s the problem with such a heliocentric offense.
Of course the Mavs still have Kyrie Irving to pick up the slack on offense without Luka, but he alone won’t be enough to compensate for the 34.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9.9 assists that Doncic puts up every night. Not to mention that they are up against a Thunder team with an MVP contender of its own in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
For now, Mavericks fans can only pray that Doncic’s injury isn’t severe. As for the team, they can only stay ready while preparing for the worst and wishing for the best.
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