DALLAS — Well, that escalated quickly. Late Friday morning, less than 15 minutes after listing no players as questionable or doubtful for Friday night’s home game against Chicago, the Mavericks suddenly declared that five players will miss the game for rest or injury recovery.
The players who will sit out are starters Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr. and key reserves Josh Green, Maxi Kleber and Christian Wood.
With Dallas’ extremely faint play-in tournament chances requiring wins over Chicago and on Sunday against San Antonio AND an Oklahoma City home loss to Memphis on Sunday — it’s evident that the franchise has turned its attention toward trying to keep its first-round pick in June’s draft.
