DALLAS — The Mavericks superstar duo’s injury statuses remain uncertain ahead of Dallas’ most pivotal game of the regular season.
On the daily injury report Tuesday, Dallas listed Luka Doncic (left thigh strain), Kyrie Irving (right foot soreness) and Markieff Morris (left knee soreness) as questionable to play Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors.
Irving’s availability is likely the bigger question.
The 30-year-old guard on Monday night suffered a setback with his right big toe pain that has persisted since March 8 and forced him to miss three games March 11-15. Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks stepped on Irving’s heel midway through the third quarter of Dallas’ 112-108 loss, and Irving said his foot twisted “in a position where I could only reaggravate my big toe.”
Irving wore a protective walking boot on his right foot as he left FedExForum, but said the brace was “just precautionary” to stabilize the injury before he could receive more treatment after the team’s travel home.
“I just got to make it back home to Dallas and then start my recovery work and do everything I can to prepare for the next game I have,” Irving said. “Time to rest and exhaust all my options possible to be ready to play the next game.”
Doncic, meanwhile, has missed five games since leaving the March 8 loss in New Orleans in the third quarter. But coach Jason Kidd said before Monday’s loss in Memphis that the team hoped the 24-year-old All-Star could return during the upcoming homestand — Wednesday against the Warriors or Friday against the Charlotte Hornets.
In the last week, Doncic has progressed to participate fully in the team’s practices and extra workouts on game days.
“He’s doing everything rehab on the court and off,” Kidd said. “He’s going in the right direction, so hopefully soon. Again, day to day, but I think these last couple days have been really, really good, so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. Continue to keep working and hopefully ... he’s going to play in one of those home games.”
Wednesday’s showdown against the Warriors would be ideal for the slumping Mavericks.
Monday’s loss to the Grizzlies dropped Dallas’ record back to .500 (36-36) and to No. 7 in the Western Conference playoff standings, a half-game behind the No. 6 Warriors (37-36) entering their national TV clash in American Airlines Center.
With 10 games left in the regular season, the Mavericks remain just 2.5 games behind the No. 4 Phoenix Suns for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs — but also only one game ahead of the No. 11 Los Angeles Lakers for the no-postseason cutoff.
“Me personally, I’ve been looking at it,” center Christian Wood said. “Everybody in the West is close. I think fourth through like 11th is close, so we’re just trying to get home-court advantage. I know that’s what we want, and we need these games coming up.”
Especially the one against Golden State.
The Mavericks split their first two matchups with the Warriors — a 116-113 home win in mid-November and a 119-113 loss in San Francisco in early February — so a victory Wednesday would give them a 2-1 regular-season series advantage, the head-to-head tiebreaker if they finish with the same record.
Their current Nos. 6 and 7 standings, respectively, also straddle the top-six guaranteed playoff spots and the Nos. 7-10 play-in tournament seeds.
Dallas has earned a top-six playoff spot since the NBA instituted the play-in tournament in 2021 and the extra week between the regular-season finale and playoff openers has afforded Doncic time to heal nagging ailments or, like last year with his left calf strain, miss as few games as possible due to injury.
Wood pointed to the Warriors’ 8-29 road record as one reason the Mavericks felt optimistic about their chances to beat their 2022 Western Conference finals foil on Wednesday night: “Hopefully we don’t be the ones that they turn that leaf around on.”
He also acknowledged the two factors that would help most:
“Luka to get back and hopefully Kyrie’s [foot is] OK,” Wood said. “We’re going to need those guys coming down the stretch.”
