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Monday update: Doncic is available for Monday’s game.
Sunday update: Doncic is officially questionable for Monday’s game against the Timberwolves with a quad injury which kept him out of Saturday’s game.
Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic will miss Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a quad injury, according to the team. Doncic has previously missed the second night on back-to-back sets for rest reasons but this is an actual injury designation so it’ll be worth monitoring further.
Mavericks say Spencer Dinwiddie (right knee, injury recovery), Luka Dončić (right quad strain), Josh Green (right elbow sprain), Maxi Kleber (right hamstring tear) and Dwight Powell (left thigh contusion) will all miss tonight's game in Cleveland.
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) December 17, 2022
Doncic only played just under 29 minutes in Friday’s game so it’s not like he was overworked in that contest and needed some rest. The Mavericks have already tasked him with so much in each game they likely felt it was best if he took the day off. We’ll see exactly how serious this quad issue is in the coming days.
The guard is averaging 33.0 points, 8.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds per game in what many thought would be his MVP season. Doncic is among the contenders to win the award on DraftKings Sportsbook, but the Mavericks have faltered so far early in the season and that lack of team success might take Doncic out of the running as the year goes on.