The Dallas Mavericks are going to be seriously shorthanded for the next little while. Kyrie Irving is expected to miss a week or two due to a bulging disc in his back, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon reported Monday, and the Mavericks were already without Luka Doncic, who strained his left calf on Christmas Day and was ruled out for at least a month.
On Sunday, Dallas listed Irving as out for Monday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies with a lumbar sprain. Irving missed the Mavericks’ most recent game, a 134-122 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, due to an illness.
This is, obviously, less than ideal for Dallas. Since an ugly victory in Phoenix on Dec. 27, the team has lost four games in a row. At 20-15, it is sixth in the West, but the seventh-place Los Angeles Clippers have an identical record and the 10th-place Minnesota Timberwolves are only 2.5 games back.
With both of their ball-dominant stars out of the lineup, the Mavericks will lean on playmakers Spencer Dinwiddie, who scored 30 points on 8-for-18 shooting in a 110-100 loss (which Irving missed because of a sore shoulder) against the Sacramento Kings a week ago, and Jaden Hardy, who rejoined the rotation after Doncic’s injury. They will also continue to empower forward P.J. Washington and wing Quentin Grimes offensively.
In 30 games this season, Irving has averaged 24.3 points (on 61.1% true shooting), 4.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists. He has shot a career-high 44.1% from 3-point range, and, according to Cleaning The Glass, the Mavericks have slightly outscored opponents (+1.9 net rating) with Irving on the court and Doncic off in non-garbage-time minutes.
After visiting Memphis, Dallas will have a four-game homestand, in which it will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday and the Denver Nuggets on both Sunday and the following Tuesday. After those two games against Denver, the Mavericks will visit the New Orleans Pelicans next Wednesday, then return home to host the Oklahoma City Thunder next Friday.
