Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving Headline Mavs Injury Report vs. Suns
DALLAS — Coming off a 119-110 loss against the Boston Celtics, the Dallas Mavericks face uncertainty about the possible injury status of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving ahead of Wednesday night's matchup against the Phoenix Suns.
Doncic (lower back tightness) and Irving (right thumb sprain) are considered questionable to play against the Suns as new additions to the injury report. Dante Exum (right plantar sprain) and Seth Curry (left ankle sprain) both missed Monday's game, but are considered questionable against Phoenix, too.
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After Monday's game, Irving sounded confident that he would play through his injury after informing reporters of his injury while wearing a brace.
"I got an X-ray right after the game. Our doctor said it's just a right thumb sprain," Irving said. "Just wear this for protective measures and then try to avoid people swiping down the next few games — put the ball in a shot pocket where they can't swipe down, and hopefully, I don't get injured again."
How big of a concern does Irving view his thumb injury as going forward? No matter how painful it may be, he is not going to use it as an excuse for his performance, knowing he's going to have to manage it when he's on the floor.
"Man, I honestly want to curse right now at this stuff going on. Do you know what I'm saying? I don't want to take these nick-nack injuries, but it comes with the territory in this physical, combative game. So I'm not going to make any excuses for myself. It's going to hurt. I don't think there's anybody in the NBA that's 100 percent night tonight. So for me personally, I'm not going to make any excuses, man.
"The other night was brutal falling on my back, falling on my hip," Irving explained. "And then tonight, you know, spraining my thumb, but just gotta keep pushing, man."
Exum and Curry have progressed in their respective recoveries and were described by Jason Kidd as "day-to-day" going forward.
"He had a really good day at practice [on Sunday]. He did everything," Kidd said of Exum before Monday's game. "So we'll see. Today, he did some spot shooting. We'll see tomorrow how he feels. Hopefully, he's back soon."
Exum has not played since Jan. 1, when he was ruled out at halftime in the Mavs' road loss against the Utah Jazz. During his career year, he emerged as a third ball handler and top on-ball defender on the wing alongside Doncic and Irving.
