- Mavericks center Kai Jones had an impressive block on Franz Wagner in the first quarter of Thursday’s game in Orlando and immediately followed it up with an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Naji Marshall (Twitter video link via Christian Clark of The Athletic). Unfortunately, Jones was unable to brace himself after the dunk and had a scary-looking fall, with all of his weight landing on his left hip. The Mavericks later ruled him out for the remainder of the contest with a left hip contusion (Twitter link). Jones, who is on a two-way deal with Dallas, has started each of his past four games and played well over that span. He recently missed seven games with a left quad strain.
Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to repair the ACL tear in his left knee, the team announced on its website.
The procedure had been expected since Irving was diagnosed with a torn ACL on March 4 after sustaining that knee injury one day earlier. Typically, ACL surgery is delayed by a few weeks in order to allow the swelling and inflammation in the player’s knee to subside to some extent.
The Mavericks’ announcement doesn’t provide a specific recovery timeline for Irving, simply stating that updates on his status will be provided as appropriate. However, the start of the NBA’s 2025/26 season is less than seven months away and the recovery period for this sort of surgery typically extends beyond that, so it seems relatively safe to assume the star guard won’t be ready for opening night in the fall.
Irving, who turned 33 on Sunday, holds a player option worth nearly $43MM for the 2025/26 season. If the Mavs are interested in working out a longer-term deal while he recovers from his knee surgery, he’ll have multiple contract options, including declining that option to sign a new contract or exercising the option and extending off of it.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Southwest Division, the Pelicans announced in a press release that wing Trey Murphy also went under the knife on Wednesday in order to repair the torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Murphy sustained his injury, which included a partial tear of his rotator cuff, on March 17, ending his season. He becomes the second Pelicans starter to undergo shoulder surgery already this year, joining teammate Herbert Jones.
According to the Pelicans’ release, Murphy is expected to make a full recovery following his surgery. But the team doesn’t specify whether or not he’ll be available for the start of the 2025/26 season, stating – like the Mavs with Irving – that further details will be “appropriately provided.”
As we wrote last week, Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray‘s recovery from an Achilles tear is expected to extend well into ’25/26 and it remains possible that Murphy and/or Jones will also have their season debuts delayed next fall. While it’s too early to pinpoint a return date for either player at this point, it will be worth keeping an eye out for any updates on their respective rehab processes this spring and summer.
Murphy, coming off a breakout year in which he averaged 21.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game on .454/.361/.887 shooting, signed a four-year, $112MM rookie scale extension last fall. That contract will go into effect this July.
As expected, the Mavericks activated Kessler Edwards for Tuesday’s game against the Knicks. With Anthony Davis sitting out the second end of the back-to-back after returning from his adductor injury on Monday, Edwards earned the start in Dallas’ frontcourt and played 19 minutes in the 15-point loss.
While Edwards has seen action in just 40 games this season, he has been a DNP-CD in 10 others, meaning he has now reached the limit of 50 active regular season games for a player on a two-way contract.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Two-Way Contract]
In order to play in any additional games this spring for Dallas, Edwards would need to be signed to a standard contract and promoted to the 15-man roster. That’s what the Kings did last week with rookie big man Isaac Jones after he reached his 50-game limit.
However, that’s not an option right now for the Mavericks with Edwards due to their lack of flexibility below the first-apron hard cap. With only about $51K in breathing room under that cap, Dallas can’t fill the 15th spot on its roster until at least April 10, since a minimum-salary deal carries a cap hit of nearly $12K per day.
Edwards has registered modest averages of 4.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 15.2 minutes per game across his 40 total outings for Dallas this season. But he has played a far more significant role since Davis went down with his injury on February 8. In 17 games since then, the 6’7″ forward has made 15 starts and averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 APG with a .538/.486/.900 shooting line in 24.5 MPG.
Given his importance to the banged-up Mavericks, Edwards is a strong candidate to be promoted during the final week of the season, though the club may have decisions to make on their other two-way players at that point as well. Point guard Brandon Williams is down to just two active games remaining, while center Kai Jones could play in up to seven more. The 35-38 Mavs have nine more games on their regular season schedule.
The Mavs could theoretically promote two – or even all three – of their two-way players to standard contracts if they wait until the last day or two of the regular season to do so, but elevating more than one of them would mean waiving one or more of their current 14 players. It may not make sense for the team to go that route, especially if Dereck Lively (right ankle stress fracture) and Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain) are able to return from their own injuries by that point.
Dallas’ position in the play-in race by that point also figures to be a major factor in any roster decisions — making Edwards, Williams, and/or Jones available for the postseason by promoting them to the 15-man roster wouldn’t be necessary if the team is eliminated from contention. In that scenario, the decision on that 15th roster spot could come down to which player the Mavs can sign to a team-friendly multiyear deal.
In the meantime, Edwards is permitted to continue practicing with the Mavericks after reaching his 50-game limit, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That will also be the case for Williams and/or Jones if and when they run out of games.
It has been a rough few weeks for the Mavericks, who have found themselves beset by injuries, unable to make roster additions due to their hard cap, and rapidly losing ground in the postseason race in the Western Conference. But Monday’s contest in Brooklyn provided at least one reason for optimism in Dallas, as Anthony Davis made his long-awaited return from an adductor strain.
Davis, who had missed 18 straight games since making his Dallas debut on February 8, told reporters after the Mavs’ 19-point win over the Nets that shutting it down for the season and focusing on the 2025/26 campaign was never an option he considered.
“It was tough seeing these guys battling every single night. Winning close games. Losing close games. Blowing teams out. Getting blown out. They are laying it on the line,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “For me, it was never a thought about if I was going to come back and play. Especially if I was healthy. We are undermanned. Guys are hurt. (Daniel) Gafford. (Dereck) Lively. Kyrie (Irving) goes out. It was tough. Guys were leaving it on the floor. Guys laying on the floor in the locker room afterwards just gassed — to the point of exhaustion.
“There was no doubt I was going to come back and play. That makes you want to come out and play with these guys. Leave it on the floor and battle each and every night. As one of the leaders of the team, I just wanted to go out there and give them a breather at least.”
Davis confirmed in his post-game media session that he’s on a minutes restriction for the time being, and it’s not as if the Mavericks’ injury woes are behind them now that they have the 10-time All-Star back in action. The team still had only 10 healthy players available on Monday and one of them – guard Brandon Williams – can only be active for three more games while on his two-way contract.
Still, having Davis make it through 27 minutes in his return without any setbacks was an encouraging sign for a Mavs team that remains firmly in the mix for a play-in spot as one of three teams from Nos. 9-11 in the West separated by a half-game.
“It was a positive experience,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “We tried to keep his run short. We tried to keep him under his minutes, and I thought he did an incredible job. I thought his rhythm was good. Sometimes when you get a player back like AD, you want to dump the ball to him every time. I thought the guys did a good job of being aggressive and letting the ball find him.”
Even if they claim a play-in spot, the Mavericks would almost certainly have to win a pair of play-in games to earn the No. 8 seed, which would line them up to play a dominant Thunder team in the first round of the playoffs. In other words, the odds are against them making a deep postseason run, especially without Irving, whose ACL tear Davis referred to on Monday as “devastating.”
Still, while the championship aspirations the front office had at the time it traded for Davis last month probably are no longer realistic for this season, that didn’t discourage the 32-year-old big man from trying to return to action as soon as he could.
“I stressed that to them,” Davis said. “Once I’m 100 percent, whenever that time was, and we have games left, I’m going to play. We all huddled up and got on the same page. Went through the rehab process and was able to play (Monday). There was never a moment in my mind — unless we ran out of games — that I wasn’t going to play.
“Seeing these guys playing with seven guys. Guys playing 38, 40 minutes. We just don’t have enough bodies. Kessler Edwards is playing the five. Naji (Marshall) is playing the five. Added a little bit more motivation for me. I was already motivated to get back. But it added a little bit more motivation seeing those guys battle each and every night.”
Two-way Mavericks player Kessler Edwards is expected to be active for the 50th time this season on Tuesday against the Knicks, NBA insider Marc Stein tweets.
That will make Edwards ineligible to be activated again this season under a two-way deal. The hard-capped Mavs can sign him to a standard contract on April 10. The team can’t do it any sooner because it’s only about $51K away from its first-apron hard cap.
Edwards has appeared in 39 games (17 starts), averaging 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per contest.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- The Spurs have been keeping close tabs on stash-and-draft prospect Juan Nunez, Eurohoops.net relays. “I know we’ve had a lot of people visiting him in Spain and interacting with the Barcelona organization,” interim head coach Mitch Johnson told Mundo Deportivo. “We have a great relationship from everything I’ve heard, that’s what I know about it. I know we’re very aligned in terms of his development and experience there, and we want to continue helping him grow as a young player.” The 36th pick of last year’s draft, Nunez recorded 25 EuroLeague appearances for Barcelona, averaging 5.0 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game. The point guard’s season was cut short by a knee injury.
- Following a 40-point outing against the Pistons, Pelicans guard CJ McCollum was rested in the second game of a back-to-back on Monday, according to a team press release. Bruce Brown (return to play reconditioning) and Zion Williamson (low back contusion) were also listed among the players who were ruled out against injury-riddled Philadelphia.
- Rockets lottery pick Reed Sheppard did some shooting at practice without a brace on his fractured thumb, Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle tweets. He was injured on March 7 and was expected to miss at least four weeks. He’ll still be out for at least another week, Lerner adds.
- Ja Morant will miss his fifth straight game due to a hamstring strain when the Grizzlies face Utah on Tuesday, the team’s PR department tweets.
Anthony Davis is expected to play tonight when the Mavericks face Brooklyn on the road, NBA insider Marc Stein tweets.
Davis has missed 18 games since he suffered a left adductor strain in his Dallas debut on Feb. 8. Assuming Davis plays, he will sit out the second game of a back-to-back when the Mavericks face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Davis made a splashy debut with the Mavericks, racking up 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in 31 minutes before the injury occurred. Davis has been ramping up in recent weeks, practicing multiple times with the Texas Legends in the G League.
Davis’ return will provide a big boost to Dallas, which has been ravaged by injuries, including Kyrie Irving‘s season-ending torn ACL. The Mavericks are still very much in the running for a play-in berth — they’re currently tied with the Suns for 10th place in the standings at 34-37. The ninth-place Kings, who are 35-35, are also within reach of the Mavs.
Dallas has gone 6-12 without the perennial All-Star big man. Davis is averaging 25.7 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.1 blocks over 43 games this season. He was, of course, the centerpiece for Dallas in the controversial Luka Doncic blockbuster with the Lakers.
The Kings announced on March 18 that center Domantas Sabonis, who was diagnosed with a moderate right ankle sprain, would be reevaluated in 10 days. However, just six days later, Sacramento has listed Sabonis as questionable to play on Monday vs. Boston.
As Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee writes, the Kings announced that Sabonis has made significant progress in his recovery from the ankle sprain and fully participated in Sunday’s practice. It seems possible that an injury initially expected to sideline the big man for at least six games might only cost him three. Teammate Malik Monk predicted that outcome on the night Sabonis injured his ankle last Monday.
“It looked pretty bad,” Monk told reporters at the time. “But Domas (is) strong. He’ll probably be back sooner than we think.”
If Sabonis is able to return sooner rather than later, it would bode well for his potential end-of-season award eligibility — he needs to play at least 20 minutes in seven of the Kings’ remaining 12 contests to meet the requirements for the NBA’s 65-game rule. Sacramento also remains in the midst of a battle for a play-in spot. At 35-35, the team is ninth in the Western Conference standings, 1.5 games ahead of the Suns and Mavericks, who have matching 34-37 records.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- The Mavericks have upgraded big man Anthony Davis from doubtful to questionable for Monday’s game in Brooklyn, tweets Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. NBA insider Marc Stein previously reported that Davis was targeting Tuesday’s game in New York for his return from an adductor strain. I wouldn’t expect the Mavs star to play both ends of the back-to-back set, but it certainly sounds as if he could be back in action either today or tomorrow.
- There had been a belief that Tyrese Maxey (lower back sprain/finger sprain) might return on the Sixers‘ current road trip, but it doesn’t appear that will happen after all. The trip will wrap up in New Orleans on Monday and head coach Nick Nurse said on Sunday that he wasn’t expecting to have Maxey back for that game, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I do expect him back (before the end of the season),” Nurse said. “But I don’t think he’s going to make it for today or tomorrow, I’ve been told.”
- Sixers guard Lonnie Walker, who missed four games while in the concussion protocol, had to depart his first game back on Friday due to a headache. He sat out Sunday and the expectation is that he’ll miss Monday’s game too. “He just didn’t feel great,” Nurse said on Sunday, per Pompey. “And they just wanted to, with an abundance of caution, pull him back out of there. So they are going to take a look at him. He’ll be out tonight and tomorrow for sure. Then we will see where we go from there.”
- After injuring his foot in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma City, James Harden was able to finish the game, but the ailment seemed to be affecting him down the stretch and in the locker room afterward, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Harden was playing some of his best basketball of the season as of late, having averaged 29.2 points per game with a .396 3PT% in the Clippers‘ last nine outings (including eight wins) entering Sunday, so the team will be holding its breath as it evaluates his foot, Murray notes.
While last month’s Luka Doncic trade has since overshadowed it, the Mavericks‘ mishandling of Jalen Brunson‘s contract situation back in 2022 still looms large over the franchise, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes ahead of the Mavs’ visit to New York on Tuesday.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN also revisits the Brunson contract saga in Dallas, sharing an excerpt from his new book ‘The Wonder Boy’ about how the Mavericks’ unwillingness to offer the guard a four-year, $55.6MM contract when they were first eligible to do so cost them a chance to retain the budding star at a bargain price through 2026. According to MacMahon, while that $55.6MM extension was the maximum deal Brunson could have received entering the 2021/22 season, he would’ve been open to accepting even a little less than that, perhaps $50MM over four years.
However, the Mavericks reportedly didn’t offer Brunson an extension before the season and then didn’t put his max extension on the table until February 2022, at which point he had outplayed it. When the guard reached unrestricted free agency later that year, Dallas had the ability to tack on a fifth year to its offer or simply to outbid the Knicks‘ four-year, $104MM proposal, but did neither, allowing him to leave for New York.
“I tell you this, this is a conversation we had,” Brunson’s father Rick Brunson told MacMahon. “If Dallas offers the same money or more, I don’t know if he leaves. Come with the money. Make it hard! You didn’t. You made it easy.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Tuesday’s game in New York or Thursday’s contest in Orlando have emerged as the target dates for Anthony Davis‘ return from his adductor strain, reports NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link). Stein said over the weekend that there’s increasing optimism about the possibility of Davis, who has been out since February 8, playing during this road trip. He’s listed as doubtful for Monday’s matchup with the Nets in Brooklyn.
- Daniel Gafford, who is recovering from a right knee sprain, spoke to MavsTV about his experience practicing with the Texas Legends in the G League on Friday, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays (via Twitter). “Practice was good — getting a lot of range of motion in the knee, getting my body right, and getting my cardio back,” Gafford said. “I’ve got to get the lungs going again, get the leg conditioning back, just working through everything. But everything went well (on Friday). It was just another step in the process and the progress, trying to get back on the floor with the guys. Good vibes, great atmosphere, great attitude — just trying to get better and feel better too.”
- Mavericks point guard Spencer Dinwiddie said the team is just hoping to stay afloat until its injured players – especially Davis – start to return, according to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. “I think it’s just trying to keep the pulse, the heartbeat going, waiting on obviously the big dogs to get back,” Dinwiddie said. “That’s all we’re trying to do right now. … It’s a hold-down-the-fort mentality. Stay in striking distance. You get a top-75 guy back. Who knows what can happen?”
- Christian Clark of The Athletic takes a look at the impact that assistant coach God Shammgod has had in Dallas, including on Kyrie Irving. “I feel like he’s just one of my uncles just from Harlem, New York, that’s there to give me a little s–t when I need it, but be honest all the time,” Irving said of Shammgod.
There’s increasing optimism that Mavericks big man Anthony Davis will have a chance to return to action during the team’s upcoming four-game road trip, reports NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link).
Davis, who has been sidelined by an adductor strain since his Mavs debut on February 8, practiced with the Texas Legends in the G League multiple times this week and got through those sessions without experiencing any setbacks. As Stein relays, head coach Jason Kidd said last night that it was a “positive day” on Friday for Davis and fellow injured big men Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford, who also practiced with the Legends.
While Kidd said there’s “no timetable” for any of them to return, he expressed hope about having all three centers back this season, and Stein suggests Davis is the furthest along of the three in his recovery process. He has advanced to 5-on-5 play, while Lively and Gafford have reportedly only done 3-on-3 work.
The Mavericks’ four-game Eastern Conference swing will begin on Monday in Brooklyn and also includes stops in New York (Tuesday), Orlando (Thursday), and Chicago (next Saturday). Stein, who previously reported that Davis is “very eager” to resume playing, suggests it’s possible we could see him in one or more of those games.
There had been speculation following Davis’ adductor injury that the Mavericks may simply shut him down for the rest of the season and focus on 2025/26, especially after Kyrie Irving suffered a torn ACL. However, there was never any indication from Dallas that the team was seriously considering that route, especially with a postseason berth still within reach.
Although they sit at No. 11 in the Western Conference right now, the Mavericks are tied with the No. 10 Suns at 34-37 and are just two games back of the No. 9 Kings (35-34). Even without Irving, an otherwise healthy version of this Mavs team could cause problems for opponents in the postseason, and making or missing the play-in tournament is unlikely to significantly impact their draft position.
Veteran guard Bogdan Bogdanovic was having the worst year of his NBA career in Atlanta this season, averaging 10.0 points per game on 37.1% shooting (30.1% on three-pointers). He has looked more like his usual self since being traded to Los Angeles, bumping his scoring average to 12.6 PPG while making 48.5% of his shots from the floor (and 40.0% of his threes).
Bogdanovic has emerged as an X-factor for the Clippers, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register, due to his ability to read the floor, his decision-making, and the way he complements star guard James Harden.
“Bogey, him coming to our team really gave us a shot in the arm and helped us out in all of those areas,” assistant coach Brian Shaw said. “(His) spacing, being able to handle the ball takes some of the pressure off of James … and then when we want to seek out mismatches, they have to account for him out on the three-point line and that leaves the paint and everything open.”
Bogdanovic has a guaranteed $16MM salary for next season and a $16MM team option for 2026/27, so he won’t simply be a rental for his new team.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Within a mailbag for SI.com, veteran NBA reporter Chris Mannix says he thinks Suns forward Kevin Durant would like to end up with with the Rockets this summer. While Mannix makes it clear that’s just his opinion, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) notes that he shares that opinion. Houston controls a handful of Phoenix’s draft picks, making the two teams an obvious match, but the question is how much interest the Rockets would have in giving up significant assets for a player who will be 37 next season — past reports have suggested they’ve sought to complement their young core with a more “age-appropriate” star.
- The Mavericks held Kessler Edwards out of their game against Detroit on Friday, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Edwards, who is on a two-way contract, can only be active once more and Dallas didn’t want to burn his last game quite yet, so he’ll join the team on its upcoming road trip. Another two-way player, Brandon Williams, is active for the Mavs on Friday and will have just four active games of his own left after tonight (Twitter link).
- Bennett Durando addresses a series of Nuggets-related topics in a mailbag for The Denver Post, exploring what the team’s playoff rotation might look like, discussing the latest on Aaron Gordon‘s nagging calf injury, and evaluating who’s to blame for Denver’s subpar defensive play.