Luka Doncic rolls ankle in practice, out versus Houston

Update: Marc Stein says Luka will undergo an MRI to help determine the severity of the injury. His status is uncertain but it seems likely he’ll miss the Houston game.

Update 2: Marc Stein reports no timetable on Doncic’s recovery time, but that it’s believed to be a “manageable” injury.

Original post: Per multiple reports, including Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News and Tim Cato of the Athletic, Luka Doncic turned his ankle at the end of practice today and his status for Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets is unclear.

Townsend later notes in his twitter feed that Barea spoke as if Dallas would be without Doncic for the contest. Cato highlighted that Maverick staffers seemed “concerned” about the injury.

This is the same ankle which Doncic injured against the Miami Heat on December 14th. He missed all of that game then the next four games as well and returned against the Spurs on December 26th. During those five games, the Mavericks went 2-3 and all three losses were extremely winnable contests.

The Mavericks have had considerable bad injury luck during the 2019-20 season. Delon Wright missed time with a groin injury. Luka Doncic had the aforementioned ankle sprain in December. Tim Hardaway missed games with a strained hamstring. Kristaps Porzingis missed a significant stretch with “knee soreness” (perhaps some undisclosed injury we’ll find out about down the line). Dwight Powell tore his Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of this season.

Injuries have been one of the few complaints in an otherwise outstanding Dallas season. The Mavericks currently sit in the fifth seed in the Western Conference, tied with the Rockets but holding a division lead for the tie breaker. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a mere two games behind Dallas and Houston.

Any injury to a starter is significant and a nebulous ankle injury to a potential MVP candidate is cause for concern for Mavericks fans. Updates will occur as we know more.