Mavs' Luka Doncic Out vs. Spurs; Will Kyrie Irving, Christian Wood Play?
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SAN ANTONIO — Despite being at a point of the season when superstar impact is needed the most, the Dallas Mavericks haven't had any of theirs available to play as of late. Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Christian Wood all were sidelined for Monday's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Ahead of Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavs released an update regarding their injury report. Doncic has already been ruled out as he continues to deal with a left thigh strain. Irving and Wood remain questionable to play due to right foot soreness.
“We’ll continue to keep fighting, continue to keep working,” Kidd said, “and if we can get healthy, it puts us in a position to have success.”
Regardless of whether Irving or Wood are able to play against the Spurs, the Mavs must achieve a win before their continually plummeting playoff odds continue to drop. They have lost three consecutive games and are just 3-7 in their last 10 games.
While the Spurs are 18-50 on the season, they are not a team that should be taken lightly. San Antonio has won four of its previous seven games and is coming of a 132-114 victory over the Orlando Magic. While the Mavs will be facing the Spurs during what will be a second night of a back-to-back for San Antonio, the size they have on the perimeter will pose challenges.
Jaden Hardy went from being out of the Mavs' rotation before Doncic went down with injury against the Pelicans, to becoming the team's top scoring option with so many players sidelined. He was the clear-cut priority in the half-court against the Grizzlies in Dallas' most recent outing, which occurred before Tim Hardaway Jr. was added to the injury report, too.
“He’s grown. He’s had an incredible run,” Kidd said of Hardy. “Being able to get to the paint to score, being able to shoot and being able to find open teammates when he was driving. So a lot of good things. Let’s finish the season off before we start talking about playoff minutes.
“You can’t put Hardy in Luka’s role. That’s not fair to Hardy. He (Dončić) is one of the best players in the world. And you got a 20-year-old that’s just learning to play the NBA game.”
Hardaway is questionable to play against the Spurs due to a left calf contusion. He sustained an injury midway through the Mavs' most recent loss against the Grizzlies, but he played through it. Will he be able to do the same as Dallas aims to avoid a fourth consecutive loss?
Hardy and Josh Green will continue to see major opportunities for as long as there are key players injured. While efficiency will naturally be a concern for a rookie volume scorer, Hardy is coming off his first string of consecutive 20-point performances in his NBA career. Green is also coming off a pair of back-to-back outings of that nature after failing to reach double-figures scoring in six consecutive performances.
“You look at the stars not being able to participate in Memphis and Memphis plays extremely well at home,” Kidd said. “To put ourselves in position to win that game and you look at the back court is extremely young with (Jaden) Hardy and (Josh) Green. I thought they did a great job.”
Entering Wednesday's NBA action, the Mavs are ninth in the Western Conference standings after getting surpassed by the surging Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week. There is now just one game separation Dallas from both 11th and 12th in the standings.
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