The Dallas Mavericks cannot afford any more injuries, let alone to a player as significant as Kyrie Irving, so they’re going to have to hold their breath and hope that the knee injury that Irving suffered in Monday night’s loss to the Kings isn’t as bad as it looked.
Late in the first quarter, Irving drove down the middle of the lane and appeared to bang knees with big man Jonas Valančiūnas, but the concerning part of the play was Irving’s next step where you can see his left knee buckle backward.
After Irving stayed in the game to shoot his two free throws — hobbling his way to the line with the help of Anthony Davis and a Mavericks staffer after staying down on the court for several minutes — he headed straight to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with a left knee sprain.
This is all too reminiscent of Kobe Bryant limping to the free-throw line with a ruptured Achilles in 2013. The Mavericks and their fans can only hope that the initial diagnosis of a sprain is accurate, but even that could be a big problem for an already hobbled Dallas team as it fights for postseason positioning over the last five weeks of the season. Monday’s loss dropped the Mavericks to 32-30, putting them in the No. 10 spot in the West.
After the game, Dallas coach Jason Kidd did not have much of an update other than hoping it’s not serious.
“Just unlucky. I hope that he’s healthy and it’s not serious,” Kidd said. “The injuries that we’ve had this season, guys are trying to hold it together to get other bodies back. And it just seems every time we’re getting close to getting somebody back, someone goes down. We’re running out of bodies here, but guys keep fighting.”
Knee sprains can keep a player out for a wide range of timelines, depending on the severity and the exact type of sprain. The Mavericks cannot afford an extended absence from Irving, a nine-time All-Star who is averaging 25 points per game. They’re already without the services of Davis, who was acquired in the blockbuster Luka Dončić trade, as well as Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
In addition, PJ Washington exited Saturday’s game vs. Milwaukee with an ankle injury and didn’t play on Monday. Caleb Martin, who the Mavericks acquired almost a month ago at the trade deadline, hasn’t even suited up for the team yet due to a hip injury.
The Mavericks are hoping for good news this week as Davis, Lively and Gafford are all set to be reevaluated on Thursday. Davis left the only game he played with the Mavericks on Feb. 8 because of a groin injury.
There’s hope that Davis could be back soon, but if he’s returning just as Irving is going out for his own injury absence, it sort of defeats the purpose of the Dončić trade … not that there was even a smidge of justification for that trade to begin with.
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