Mavericks Center Daniel Gafford to Miss Significant Time With Knee Injury

Gafford is the latest Dallas player to go down.

Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford (21) is helped off the court during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at the American Airlines Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks hoped to move forward into a new era after the controversial trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. The early days of that era have been marred by the presence of the injury bug.

Center Daniel Gafford is the latest key Mavericks player to go down with an injury. He suffered a knee injury during Monday's game against the Sacramento Kings. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the injury is a grade 3 MCL sprain which will keep him out for at least six weeks.

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

Gafford's extended absence comes at the worst possible time for Dallas. Anthony Davis, another frontcourt player and the key return piece in the Dončić deal, suffered an adductor strain just days earlier during his Dallas debut. Young center Dereck Lively II suffered a foot fracture in late January that will cost him t

Despite the terrible run of luck, the Mavericks have won four of five games, including a 118–113 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday. Dallas is 29–26 and in eighth place in the Western Conference.

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