Luka Doncic injury update: Mavericks star to miss Saturday's game vs. Jazz with mild ankle sprain
Freshly-named NBA All-Star starter Luka Doncic gingerly walked off the floor with an ankle injury in the first quarter of the Dallas Mavericks game against the Phoenix Suns Thursday night. Though he is expected to be listed as day-to-day with what was determined a mild left ankle sprain, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Mavericks announced Friday evening that Doncic will miss Saturday night's game against the Utah Jazz.
With just under nine minutes to play versus the Suns, Doncic tried to drive to the basket but was cut off by Cameron Johnson and had to spin back the other way. As he did so, he stepped right on Mikal Bridges' foot and awkwardly rolled his left ankle. He immediately winced in pain and hobbled back down the floor. After Torrey Craig hit a 3-pointer, the Mavericks called a timeout to get Doncic out of the game.
He went straight back to the locker room, and while he was able to get there under his own power, he was not moving well at all and constantly grabbed at his ankle and foot.
Doncic's ankle has been giving him issues for a few weeks, and he's popped up on the injury report on a regular basis. However, he's only missed two games along the way, one on Jan. 8 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder and another on Jan. 15 versus the Portland Trail Blazers.
When Doncic has been on the floor lately, he's performed to his usual level; in his last outing prior to Thursday, he put up 41 points, 15 rebounds and six assists on 16 of 29 from the field in the Mavericks' loss to the Washington Wizards. For the season he is second in the league in scoring at 33.0 points per Game.
Losing Doncic for any amount of time isn't ideal for the Mavericks, especially with forward Christian Wood, who is the team's second-leading scorer, already being sidelined. Without Doncic on the floor Dallas' offense falls apart, scoring 12.4 points fewer per possession when he's on the bench. However, in Thursday night's win, Spencer Dinwiddie did his best Doncic impersonation and dropped an efficient 36 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Dinwiddie's performance, coupled with the Mavericks' stingy defense, outlasted a Suns team that was already without their best player in Devin Booker.
With Doncic being listed as day-to-day, there shouldn't be too much concern for Dallas going forward. Dinwiddie showed Thursday night that he's capable of holding down the fort until their All-Star guard returns, but the sooner he does the better as Dallas is set to embark on a tough five-Game road trip with Games against the Warriors, Kings and Clippers.
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