The Dallas Mavericks announced Thursday that All-Star forward Anthony Davis will be reevaluated in two weeks following a left adductor (groin) strain he suffered in his team debut against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 8. In the statement, the Mavericks said their star trade deadline acquisition is “making good progress” from the injury.
The update isn’t necessarily surprising for the Mavericks, as it was reported two days after the injury that Davis was going to miss several weeks. But it is a bit of a sigh of relief that the official report from the team doesn’t have a more significant timeline, or worse, surgery which could end Davis’ season and essentially end the Mavericks’ chances of making any sort of run in the playoffs.
Davis, traded from the Lakers for Luka Dončić at the beginning of the month, picked up the injury in the third quarter of Dallas’ matchup against Houston as he attempted to guard Jalen Green on a pick-and-roll before rotating over to Alperen Sengun on a pocket pass. As he rotated, he collapsed with a non-contact injury and left the game.
Davis immediately went back to the locker room and was shortly ruled out for the remainder of the game. Following the win, Davis said the injury wasn’t anything serious, and that he felt like he would be fine. However, that wasn’t the case as he’ll miss at least the next two weeks on top of the three games after that win that he already missed. And that’s assuming that Davis is ready to go after that two weeks is up. Injuries like these are tricky, and the All-Star forward was already coming off an injury when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers prior to the trade deadline.
Either way, the Mavericks will have to continue treading water as the injuries keep piling up. Davis has joined Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford on the injured list, leaving Dallas with no viable starting big men. They’ve signed 7-foot-2 center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract, hoping he can provide some spot minutes, but it’s unlikely he’ll get a ton of minutes while all three of the Mavericks big men are out. Instead, it’s likely Dallas plays small ball with PJ Washington — who is expected to return from injury on Friday — at center, which certainly isn’t a long-term solution by any means. But it’s the cards the Mavericks have been dealt, and Jason Kidd will have to find ways to get creative with his lineups if his team wants to keep pace in the Western Conference where they’re currently two games out of the No. 6 spot, but also only three games ahead of the 11th-placed Phoenix Suns.
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Dallas’ outlook drastically changed when the team decided to trade franchise superstar Dončić to the Lakers in exchange for a package centered around Davis. It’s a trade still sending shockwaves around the league, and one that will have long-lasting ramifications for both franchises for years to come. Nico Harrison, Dallas’ general manager who pulled the trigger on the move, had coveted Davis for some time and decided to jettison the team’s franchise darling, for Davis who is an awesome player in his own right, but is on the wrong side of 30 and has a lengthy injury history.
So far, while Davis had about as perfect of a first game as anyone could’ve imagined through two and a half quarters, the returns have been disappointing as he picked up yet another injury. Dončić hasn’t gotten out to a blazing start with the Lakers, but once he knocks off the rust from missing a month of games, it’s undoubtedly going to be painful for Mavericks fans to watch Dončić light up teams in a different uniform. And with Davis sidelined for at least the next two weeks, Dončić’s nightly presence on the Lakers will only serve as a sore reminder of what the franchise willingly, and shockingly gave up.
