Lakers catch huge break as Mavs release loaded injury report for Friday’s matchup

Published by

Peter Dewey

March 16, 2023 6:23 pm

The Dallas Mavericks will be down star Luka Doncic against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, and fellow All-Star guard Kyrie Irving is listed as questionable with a foot injury.

JaVale McGee, Markieff Morris and Tim Hardaway Jr. are also listed as questionable for Friday’s contest.

Doncic has missed the Mavericks’ last three games due to a thigh injury. Dallas has struggled in his absence, going 1-2 with two losses to the Memphis Grizzlies and an overtime win against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

Even though Doncic practiced in full on Thursday, he isn’t ready to go in a game just yet.

Irving has also missed the team’s last three games, and the Mavericks haven’t taken a major step since dealing for him at the deadline.

Dallas hoped that adding Irving would vault it into the upper half of the Western Conference. Instead the team is sitting in the No. 8 seed.

An All-Star this season, Irving at least has a chance to return in this game, which would be a major boost to the Dallas offense. With Doncic (33.0 points per game) out, the Mavericks could use Irving’s scoring to keep pace with the Lakers.

Since being traded to Dallas from the Brooklyn Nets, Irving is averaging 27.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from beyond the arc.

The Mavericks have been relying heavily on youngsters Jaden Hardy and Josh Green with Doncic and Irving sidelined, and that may not be enough to take down a Lakers team that received a positive update on star Anthony Davis, who is listed as probable for Friday’s game.

Even though Davis is likely going to be back for Los Angeles, Mo Bamba and LeBron James will both miss Friday’s game.

Davis sat out Wednesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. That was the second game of a back-to-back for Los Angeles, and the team sat Davis for precautionary reasons because of his foot injury earlier this season.

Friday’s matchup is a huge game for both teams, but the Lakers may need the win a little more with the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans right on their heels for the final spot in the play-in tournament.

Friday’s game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. PST in Los Angeles.

Peter Dewey

Peter is a graduate of Quinnipiac University where he covered the MAAC and college basketball for three years. He has worked for NBC Sports, the Connecticut Sun and the Meriden Record-Journal covering basketball and other major sports. Follow him on Twitter @peterdewey2.