Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, who has missed three games since spraining his left knee and ankle last week, appeared to be on the verge of a return to the court as he went through practice on Monday. However, as Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News writes, the team hasn’t provided an update since Doncic shouted in pain and came off the court holding his knee near the end of Monday’s practice.
Doncic may have just suffered a brief scare that won’t affect his ability to return to action as soon as tonight — he’s still listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. the Clippers. However, it’s also possible that the Mavericks will decide to hold him out for another game or two after he seemingly aggravated his injury on Monday.
As we wait for an update on Doncic, here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Within a larger article about Zion Williamson‘s foot injury, Brian Windhorst and Andrew Lopez of ESPN say that the Pelicans kept news of Williamson’s offseason surgery quiet until Media Day out of respect to the young forward’s “preference for privacy.”
- In a column for The Denver Post, Sean Keeler criticizes the Nuggets for their decision to sign Michael Porter Jr. to a rookie scale extension in the offseason, arguing that it was an unnecessary move for a team that can’t afford to swing big and miss. If the Nuggets hadn’t extended Porter, who is out indefinitely with a back injury, he would’ve been on track to reach restricted free agency in 2022.
- The Trail Blazers, who are riding a three-game winning streak, are showing signs of evolving from a collection of players into a team, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. Quick points to a few moments that have shown that evolution, including Larry Nance Jr. making sure rookie Trendon Watford got the game ball when he scored his first NBA points in a blowout loss to Denver.
The Nuggets have a history of jumping the gun for fear of upsetting their players. They did it with Joker too, when they could have actually spent money on another marquee player signing they didnt have the cap space.
The writer of the article praised the deal before Porter got injured.
Jokic was better than MPJ at every point of his career. He was a safe bet.
MPJ has potential, but a ton of uncertainty around his health, i alredy said that i thought they will be better trading him instead of maxing him.
Still, hope he gets better.
Jokic’s situation was very different. DEN had to extend Jokic when they did or they would have risked losing him (he would have been an UFA had they exercised the final option on his deal). MPJ is on a RSC and there was no risk of losing him (worst case he would have been a RFA and they could have matched a max deal, which couldn’t have been as much as the deal they gave him).
As for Mr. Keeler, his criticism is meaningless unless it was made BEFORE the injury. That’s not evident from this article.
MPJ is the next Simmons
Why do you say that? They are total opposites. Simmons is a pass first player that plays defense. Porter is a great shooter, decent passer who is not a great defender. Simmons is not happy being shown up. Porter doesn’t have a clue about working in a society where people have to work together. Simmons strikes me as difficult and Porter seems more immature/naive.
Way to say it. What MPG needs to learn takes a long time with a bad back that makes one prioritize conserving energy. If MPJ gets into coaches though, ironically teamwork will likely be the first thing he covers.
This is the Denver Nuggets. Jokic is by far their most important player but they play together as a team and can hang with almost anyone. Jokic will be back Jokic will be resigned. Jokic wants to be here. I think the Nuggets are being cautious with Porter becuase of his history but I’ve heard no specific claims of the nature or severity of the injury. Let’s calm down and hold it together until Jokic returns. This is an opportunity for Gordon and the Greens to produce.
Man, the amount of great stars we are mostly missing this year for whatever reason, is just horrible…
Ben Simmons, Embiid, Kyrie, Vucevic, Luka, BI, Zion, Murray, MPJ, Jokic, LBJ, Klay, Kawhi…
Need them back so we can enjoy the best possible entertainment!