Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd Reports A ‘Clean’ Evaluation On Luka Doncic Injury

After leaving a close game against the Warriors last week with a “tweaked hamstring,” Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic did not travel to Oklahoma City in their following game against the Thunder. Thankfully, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd only took until Thursday night to report that Doncic’s MRI came back “clean.”

A long-term injury to Doncic would severely damage the Mavericks’ production, as Doncic has led the team in points, assists, rebounds and steals this season. Specifically, they’d be missing out on Doncic’s average of 34.1 points, 9.8 assists, nine rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. In previous games without their Slovenian star, the Mavericks have relied on a crafty Kyrie Irving who has identified himself as another source of points averaging 25.5 per game this season.

Without Doncic, Irving couldn’t carry the Mavericks to victory when they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night.

Thankfully, the news on Doncic was great and he returned for a crucial matchup on Sunday against the second-place team in the West, the Denver Nuggets.

Doncic dropped 37 points against the Nuggets, but Irving took all the glory after scoring a running left-handed floater at the buzzer to lift the Mavericks over the Nuggets 107-105. Again, Irving proved himself to be a reliable option for Dallas.

Since then, Doncic has been available and played well in a game against the San Antonio Spurs where Irving led the scoring with 28 points, but Doncic achieved a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists.

Regardless of which guard scores the most on a given night, there is no doubt that Doncic and Irving together present one of the highest-producing backcourts in the NBA. Some nights it will just be Doncic, and others it will just be Irving, but when they’re both playing teams will have their hands full trying to guard two of the best scorers in the league.

Article by Nathan Weick

USports writing intern and second year student-athlete at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA pursuing BA in Professional Writing and BA in Spanish/Hispanic Cultures. Juniata College Mens Soccer Captain and former president of the Juniata College Class of 2026.