NBA

Luka Doncic likely to “miss a few games” after he exited Mavs vs Pelicans with ankle injury

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By
Antonio Kozlow
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Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.

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Sports Editor

Updated03 Feb 2023

luka-doncic

Dallas star Luka Doncic had already summed up 31 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in under 23 minutes of play until he injured his right foot after a strong clash with Jonas Valanciunas in the Slovenian’s attempt to attack the rim against the Pelicans.

As the Mavs guard began to elevate himself towards the rim, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram blocked the ball as the European international clashed with him and Valanciunas, and fell to the ground with all his weight over his right heel.

Watch Doncic’s scary fall for yourself as Denver was beating the Pelicans in the third quarter:

The referees first signaled a personal foul over the Slovenian, but after they checked the play again, Ingram’s block was considered legal. The Mavericks player then had to be evaluated immediately in the locker room for an apparent ankle injury after the hard fall.

Some time after, Doncic returned limping to the bench and was even given a chance to play again. However, soon after he had to officially abandon the match as the Mavs went unto a 111-106 victory over the Pelicans.

Doncic, who has been coming in and out of injury lately (having sprained his left leg last week) was reported to suffer a contusion on his heel. Last time he returned from injury he scored 53 points against the Pistons, so hopefully the point guard can recover quickly.

“No matter what the score was, he wasn’t coming back,” Jason Kidd told reporters. After his coach’s comments in press conference, the medical team announced he does have a heel contusion, but the ankle injury is the main reason he is bound to miss a few games.

The Slovenian has sprained his right ankle twice before, once in December 2019 and again in January 2020, but his medical teams confirm this sprain appears to be on a different ligament. Back in that 2019/20 campaign, he was out for a combined 12 games. This time he is unlikely to undergo surgery or an extended absence.

The bad news is Doncic will probably miss Saturday’s match against the Golden State Warriors, as well as Monday’s game vs. Utah Jazz. Dallas fans will cross their fingers hoping he will be back for Wednesday’s much-awaited contest against the Clippers.

The Slovenian is still No.5 in the Kia MVP Ladder

Even though recently Luka Doncic has gone down the league’s MVP Ladder, he is still in the Top 5. The talented point guard has maintained his stats this past month of January, but was overcome by Joel Embiid’s incredible month who in a matter of weeks entered the list for the first time this season and soon after took the Slovenian’s second place.

This wasn’t the only thing the Frenchmen took from Doncic, as now Embiid has the record for most points per game at 33.5. The Dallas star is second behind him with 33.4 points per game.

A few of our favorite sport betting sites consider the Mavs point guard to have the third best odds to win MVP at +700, whereas Joel Embiid is now at +250.

Dallas rank 5th (28-25) in the Western Conference with 29 games yet to play this regular season, as Doncic has averaged 33.4 points, 8.3 assists and 8.9 rebounds in 47 contests so far.