The last few weeks have been an absolute nightmare for the Dallas Mavericks, and it all started on Christmas Day.
At the end of the first half, Luka Doncic injured himself when driving to the basket on Jaden McDaniels, and it was the most frustrated we have ever seen him after an injury. Doncic was visibly upset and in pain after this frightening non-contact injury, and he went back to the locker room before the half ended and never returned.
This injury was ruled as a left calf strain, and although the Mavs announced that he would be re-evaluated “within” a month on December 28, there haven’t been any real updates on Doncic’s return to the hardwood until now.
Luka Doncic’s rumored return date is in early February
In the middle of Dallas’ disappointing loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, Jared Greenberg of TNT reported that the Mavs are confident that Doncic will return before the All-Star break in the middle of February, but he is still “weeks away from returning” at this point.
Most fans and media alike already speculated that Doncic’s return wouldn’t be in January to begin with, and now we have a much better idea of when he will be returning to the lineup. Since Doncic went down, Dallas has gone 3-7, and they have now lost seven of their last nine games. Things haven’t been pretty with Doncic out of the lineup, and after losing Kyrie Irving to a bulging disk in his back at the beginning of this month, things have been even worse (even though Irving returned against Denver last night).
Doncic’s return to the lineup can’t come soon enough, as every game matters in the Western Conference, and a return before the All-Star break could be the perfect time for him to get the necessary rest he needs to finish the season strong and remain injury-free. Doncic’s lower body injuries in the first half of this season have been a bit worrisome considering that he missed eight games over the course of the season before suffering the calf strain on Christmas, and Dallas’ NBA Finals chances will rest on if he can stay healthy throughout the final stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs or not.
The injury bug hit Doncic hard in the playoffs last season, and he was dealing with multiple nagging injuries for nearly the entire postseason. This significantly impacted his play for the worse in some of these series, and they can’t afford to be dealing with the same injury issues at the end of this season again.
With Doncic taking over a month off to get his body right ahead of his rumored early February return, this should be enough time for him to fully recover and get back to being the player that everyone knows him to be. Doncic was playing some of his best basketball of the season in December before getting injured, and Mavericks fans will be hoping for more of the same when he returns at some point in the coming weeks.