Dallas Mavericks starting center Daniel Gafford has missed one game since suffering a knee injury on Monday in a loss against the 129-128 loss against the Sacramento Kings. Initially, Dallas ruled Gafford out with a sprained knee. However, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon reported on Thursday that the big man has suffered an MCL sprain.
According to the reporters, the 6-foot-10 center will miss at least six weeks of action. Losing Gafford is a significant blow to the Mavs as they’ve already lost Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II to injuries. Davis had to exit his debut game for his new team on Saturday against the Houston Rockets. Later on, the organization revealed that AD has suffered a left adductor strain and will miss a “significant period.”
Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford has sustained a Grade 3 right MCL sprain and will miss at least 6 weeks, sources tell me and @espn_macmahon. Gafford, Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II now expected to be out significant stretches of the second half of the season. pic.twitter.com/FJxd2xK9NY
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 14, 2025
Lively, on the other hand, has suffered a stress fracture in his ankle. The team announced that the young big man will miss months of action and will be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Due to injuries to their top three big men, Dallas’ frontcourt is depleted. The coaching staff also decided that veteran center Dwight Powell will not play in their game against the Miami Heat on Thursday. Powell is coping with a hip issue.
Powell, Lively, Davis and Gafford are part of the eight-man injury report by the Mavs. Stars Kyrie Irving (right shoulder soreness) and Klay Thompson (left foot sprain) were unavailable against the Heat. PJ Washington JR. (right ankle sprain and Caleb Martin (right hip strain) also missed the Miami game.
Despite the shortage of players, the Mavericks managed to stave off the Heat and win 118-113. They have a lot of momentum going into the All-Star break thanks to their victory.
Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban gifts ejected fan courtside seats
After general manager Nico Harrison decided to move on and trade Luka Doncic, the fans have expressed their disappointment in the management non-stop, This led to multiple fans protesting that Dallas should fire the general manager, while also criticizing the new majority owner group in Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont.
On Monday, the Mavericks took on the Sacramento Kings and the attention shifted to the fans. Fans were chanting “Fire Nico” throughout the basketball game. It reached a point where Cuban had to chime in an have an exchange with the fan. This led to security escorting the fan out of the American Airlines Center.
In an interview with WFAA, Cuban clarified what happened between him and the fan.
“I didn’t care what he was saying,” Cuban said. “He was saying it the whole game. I cared that fans were booing him while we had the ball in crunch time or were shooting FTs. The time when they should be silent, or cheering for the Mavs, that was it.”
To redeem himself and the team, the Sharktank cast member gave the ejected fan courtside tickets to Wednesday’s 111-107 over the Golden State Warriors.
For other sports-related content:
Follow me on X at @BarbecueBro, and follow us at @HardwoodHeroics and @GridironHeroics. You can also reach out to Reign Amurao via email at [email protected]. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
