Before he was shockingly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season, star guard Luka Doncic missed his fair share of games with the Dallas Mavericks.
In one such instance, he was sidelined for five straight games in late November with what was described as a right wrist sprain.
But according to some new reporting, that classification wasn’t entirely true. It sounds like Doncic was actually supposed to use that time to improve his conditioning.
“In November, Dončić missed five games with what the Mavericks announced as a right wrist sprain,” wrote The Athletic’s Christian Clark, Mike Vorkunov and Fred Katz. “That injury classification was not entirely true. In reality, Dončić was supposed to use time off to improve his conditioning, team sources said.”
Doncic’s conditioning is said to have been one reason why the Mavs decided to move on from him.
After he returned from his five-game absence, Doncic played in eight of Dallas’ next 10 games. He was productive during that stretch, averaging 28.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game while shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from beyond the arc.
What he didn’t know was that those games were going to be his last with the Mavericks. His final game during that stretch came on Christmas Day, a game in which he had to leave early due to a calf injury. He was then sidelined with that injury for an extended stretch and never returned to action before the stunning trade went down.
Doncic has appeared in two games so far with Los Angeles, where he is still getting his footing. In his Lakers debut (and his first game in several weeks), he was iffy, but L.A. still came away with a win. In his next game with the team, he was a bit better individually, but the Lakers came up short.
Once Doncic gets settled in, the hope is that he will play like the perennial MVP candidate that he had become with the Mavericks. He should give the Lakers a fantastic long-term foundation as they prepare for whatever the future may hold.
This season, Los Angeles is 32-20, putting the team firmly in the mix in the Western Conference playoff picture. While the Lakers have some rotation question marks, they should be an interesting team in the West the rest of the way.
