Lakers Injury Report: Kyrie Irving Health Updated Prior To Dallas-LA Game Friday

The Mavericks' All-Star point guard has missed his team's last three games.

Your Los Angeles Lakers may be missing both of the Dallas Mavericks' high-scoring All-Star guards tomorrow when the two play-in tournament hopefuls square off at Crypto.com Arena.

Marc Stein reveals that Dallas' best player, Luka Doncic, will miss Friday's matchup with the thigh injury that has kept him shelved in recent days.

Stein adds that former Lakers trade target Kyrie Irving, however, is merely "questionable" to play tomorrow as he manages a recent foot ailment.

The Mavericks say Luka Doncic (thigh) is out and Kyrie Irving (foot) is questionable for Friday's game in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

More NBA from me: https://t.co/LGN9cVpMwn https://t.co/djOMQrgqjd

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 16, 2023

It's no secret that Los Angeles would prefer to not have to play against either Doncic or Irving, so this is exciting news from a Lakers fan perspective. 

That's not to say that we're rooting for players to miss games, but we weren't necessarily rooting for them to suit up per se, either.

Missing games isn't exactly out of the norm for the 30-year-old Irving, who has missed at least 15 games a season (but typically way, way more) since 2017-18. Irving has dealt with a variety of mostly lower leg injuries in that time, in addition to bizarre and distracting off-court shenanigans that have killed the chemistry several different locker rooms over the years. Why the Lakers would ever want to sign this guy over the summer, now an absence-prone one-way player, is anyone's guess. He no longer contributes to winning in a meaningful way when he does play, although he certainly knows how to boost his own stats. 

Thankfully, it appears LA has moved on from a potential 2023 free agency pursuit of the 6'2" vet, and is more focused on keeping incumbent starting point guard D'Angelo Russell on board for the long-term. While not as gifted a scorer as Irving, Russell is still an above-average starter and a good fit alongside LA stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He's also significantly younger than Irving, and can be had for a better price.

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