Forget whether or not the Dallas Mavericks should bring Anthony Davis back this season. The 32-year-old star, acquired in the still-mind-boggling Luka Donćić trade, is ramping up for a return, and he’s “likely” to be back in the lineup at some point in the next week, during the Mavericks’ road trip, according to The Stein Line’s Marc Stein.
Davis has officially been listed as doubtful for Dallas’ Monday night game against the Brooklyn Nets. It marks the first time he’s been upgraded from “out” on the injury report since he suffered a strained left adductor in his Mavs debut on Feb. 8.
Dallas assigned Davis and guard Jaden Hardy to the G League’s Texas Legends on Monday. On Friday, it assigned Davis to the Legends again, along with fellow big men Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford. Davis has played five-on-five twice while on assignment, and he’s closer than the other bigs to making a return, according to The Stein Line.
The Mavs, who will be without Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season and beyond after the star guard tore the ACL in his left knee, will visit the Nets on Monday, the New York Knicks on Tuesday, the Orlando Magic on Thursday and the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. They have lost nine of their last 11 games, and are 11th in the Western Conference standings, but they have the same record as the 10th-place Phoenix Suns.
In theory, instead of chasing the last play-in spot, they could tank the rest of the season (provided that they don’t run afoul of the NBA’s Player Participation Policy), but Davis is reportedly uninterested in that.
This past Monday, The Stein Line described Davis as “very eager” to play. Davis is “steadfast in his determination to want to return this season, maybe as soon as next week, despite the fact there are people within the Mavericks organization that have tried to talk him out of it,” ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on “NBA Today” on Wednesday. “[They] said the risk/reward is not there. There are people who would rather shut him down for the season. AD’s not trying to hear all that.”
Davis has played 31 dominant minutes for Dallas. Unless something changes in the next few days, that number will increase before the end of the year. To what end, I’m not totally sure.
