Is Luka Doncic Playing Tonight Against The Jazz? Update On Mavericks Star Amidst Quadriceps Injury

Following their recent away win against the Golden State Warriors, the Dallas Mavericks will travel to face the Utah Jazz. Amidst the anticipation around the match, the availability of Mavs’ talisman Luka Doncic remains under question. His ongoing struggles with the quadriceps injury have raised concerns surrounding his participation while the franchise looks to improve its record.

According to the latest reports, the 24-year-old is still dealing with a left quadriceps injury. This often results from a muscle strain or tendon tear and can make it difficult for the patient to even walk properly at times. Thus, the Mavs guard has been listed as ‘questionable,’ as the fans look forward to a game-time decision from the organization’s end.

Dallas Mavericks Injury Report vs. Utah Jazz:

Luka Doncic – questionable (left quad soreness)
Kyrie Irving – questionable (right heel contusion)
Dante Exum – questionable (right heel contusion)
Seth Curry – questionable (illness)
Maxi Kleber – out (right small toe dislocation)…

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) January 1, 2024

The 4x All-Star has already missed three games this season, with all of them taking place within just the span of a month. Out of those three, Doncic missed the last two matches due to this injury, raising concerns surrounding his situation. At first, he missed out on an away game against the Houston Rockets less than two weeks ago with this quad injury. Then, the 2019 ROTY was ruled out for the Minnesota Timberwolves clash a couple of days back for a similar reason.

Doncic visibly struggled in the last game too as the sustained injury bothered him in the second half. Thus, in the post-game interview, he candidly opened up about the situation, mentioning, “Obviously there is a concern. But just trynna keep lifting in the weight room. That helps me a lot. I gotta do that every day now. But obviously there is a little bit of concern in my mind”.

Doncic said his quad felt good in the first half, but bothered him in the second half, leading him to get extra treatment postgame. I asked him his level of concern, since his quad issue dates to last March and Mavs play every other day for next 10 games. pic.twitter.com/Fr1s6YVMkd

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) December 31, 2023

This put an even bigger question mark on his availability for the team in the upcoming match as he aims to maintain the momentum. After all, playing through the injury, the 6ft 7″ star is registering MVP stats this season. Averaging 33.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 9.3 assists till now, he recently became the 6th youngest and 7th fastest player in the league’s history to reach 10,000 points. So, his potential absence would be a huge miss for his team at this stage of the campaign.

Can the Dallas Mavericks cope without the presence of Luka Doncic?

The Texas side remains heavily dependent on the Ljubljana-born to produce results on the court. In fact, they lost all three of the away matches Doncic missed in this season. First, they lost against the Memphis Grizzlies 94-108 and thereafter they faced 122-96 and 118-110 defeats to the Rockets and Timberwolves respectively. So, all in all, the squad has a record of 0-3 without their talisman on the floor.

Amidst the concerns over the international star, the franchise has even bigger problems to deal with. Four of their guards including Doncic have been listed as ‘questionable’ for the Jazz match. So, in case, Luka fails to feature for the team, the coaching unit would be out of options for backups.

This has put the squad in a difficult situation who are currently at the 6th position in the West. At this moment, they are facing monumental challenges right in front of them while looking to improve their 19-14 record. The fans thus await a green light for Doncic right ahead of the game as the franchise’s fortune continues to revolve around him.