Wesley Matthews out for the season with stress fracture

Wesley Matthews will “likely” miss the rest of the season, according to Yahoo!’s Shams Charania. Matthews sustained a stress fracture in his right fibula.

Monday, Matthews underwent an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. Initially it was thought that he was dealing with an injury to his right knee that caused it to swell up. Matthews was a late scratch from Sunday night’s game against the Houston Rockets because of the swelling.

“It was pretty painful,” Matthews told reporters after the game. “There was a little swelling in it. I was ready to go. But a couple of other opinions came in and we decided to get it looked at. We’ll see what the MRI shows.”

This season, Matthews appeared in 63 of the Mavericks’ 67 games to date. However, he sat out three of the last four games due to the injury.

If the Mavericks were in the hunt for a playoff spot, losing Matthews would be a blow. He’s the defensive heart of the team and a threat as an outside shooter. However, Dallas is in the NBA’s basement, jockeying for a high lottery pick.

A variety of young players will likely fill Matthews’ minutes over the final 15 games of the season.