DALLAS — Still hopeful to salvage the Mavericks’ scant play-in tournament hopes, Luka Doncic will be in uniform Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings.
Draft lottery odds come second.
As the Mavericks have lost seven of their last eight games, speculation has increased about whether the team will — or should — shut down Doncic and Kyrie Irving to improve the likelihood of keeping the top-10 protected first-round pick they owe the New York Knicks this offseason to complete the January 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade.
Doncic has other goals.
“Uh, no,” he said Tuesday after the Mavericks’ practice. “I’m playing tomorrow. When there’s still a chance, I’m going to play, so that’s not going to happen yet.”
The Mavericks’ daily injury report Tuesday included Doncic (left thigh injury recovery) and Irving (right foot injury recovery) as probable to play Wednesday against the Kings, but under rest-adjacent designations that could foreshadow the potential for them to sit out future contests.
Perhaps Doncic’s “yet” qualifier could signal Dallas’ mindset if they lose to the Kings — who started the Mavericks’ descent to 11th in the Western Conference standings by handing Dallas a Feb. 11 overtime loss in Doncic and Irving’s first game as teammates.
Or if the ninth-place Minnesota Timberwolves and 10th-place Oklahoma City Thunder seal play-in spots before the regular-season finale Sunday. Both hold head-to-head tiebreakers over the Mavericks, adding essentially another game Dallas must make up in the standings.
With three games remaining, Doncic said he hasn’t entertained in-depth talk about a showdown.
“I think they knew that I wouldn’t want to do it,” Doncic said. “They know me like that, so I think it was not a big discussion.”
He added: “There’s little chance [of making the play-in]. We all know that, but you know, like I said, as long as there’s a chance, I’ll play.”
