Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic missed his tenth straight game due to a left calf injury on Wednesday in a 118-99 loss against the Denver Nuggets. Fortunately for the Mavs, TNT’s sideline reporter Jared Greenberg revealed that the organization is hopeful to have Doncic back soon.
To be more specific, Greenberg reported that there is hope within the Mavs’ organization that Doncic could return before the All-Star break.
REPORT: Luka Doncic is still “weeks away from returning”, per @JaredSGreenberg.
The Mavs are hopeful for him to return before All-Star Break. pic.twitter.com/Ln5UxM3SW1
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) January 15, 2025
The Slovenian star has only played 22 games this season, averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists. Throughout the 2024-25 NBA season, he’s dealt with calf injuries, which have kept him away from action.
Because of his absence, he’s now been disqualified from postseason NBA Awards. Doncic will end his streak of being named in the All-NBA teams for five seasons straight. On Sunday, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd spoke about Doncic’s disqualification from the awards.
“Unfortunately he’s not eligible to win the MVP, but it’s a team sport and understanding that we need him back to win the championship and so understanding that the individual awards will come, but we’re playing to win a championship and hopefully we can get him back soon,” Kidd said.
Jason Kidd on Luka Doncic being ineligible to win MVP or make an All-NBA Team:
“Unfortunately he’s not eligible to win the MVP, but it’s a team sport and understanding that we need him back to win the championship and so understanding that the individual awards will come, but… pic.twitter.com/wJpnFF3I5f
— Noah Weber (@noahweber00) January 12, 2025
Former Mavericks guard defends Doncic from double standards in the MVP award
Since becoming an All-Star Doncic has always been considered an MVP candidate. However, he’s always been beaten by Nikola Jokic, who has won the award three times. Former Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson talked about how the MVP voting casts an unfair situation when it comes to his former teammate.
“[The Nuggets are] not seeded where they were last year, and people are still talking about him like being MVP,” Brunson said about Jokic. “Individually, he deserves it. But when Luka [Doncic] was averaging damn near triple-double, but [the Mavs] seed wasn’t where people wanted it to be, they were like, ‘Oh, he shouldn’t get MVP because of seeding.'”
“Why do certain narratives work for some of the people,” Brunson said.
Aside from Jokic, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has also been heavily considered to be the MVP over Doncic. Both the Serbian big man and the Canadian guard have led their teams to better records. The Nuggets have a 24-15 record, while the Thunder tops the Western Conference with a 33-6 record.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
