Injury Update: Mavs Prioritizing Draft Lottery Over Play-In Odds?

The Dallas Mavericks have already ruled out Kyrie Irving among five players ahead of Friday's matchup against the Chicago Bulls.

DALLAS — Despite not being officially eliminated from play-in qualification, the Dallas Mavericks are going to be sitting a long list of key players against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. 

On the official injury report, the Mavs have already ruled out Kyrie Irving (right foot injury recovery), Josh Green (rest), Tim Hardaway Jr. (left ankle soreness), Maxi Kleber (right hamstring injury recovery) and Christian Wood (rest) will all miss tonight’s game against the Bulls.

There are a few names listed as probable on the Mavs' latest injury report, including Luka Doncic (left thigh injury recovery) and JaVale McGee (right ankle sprain). Less than 24 hours before the Mavs released Friday's morning injury report, only Doncic and Irving were mentioned. Both of the team's superstars were designated as probable to play. 

The motive for having such a drastic change to the injury report is clear. The Mavs are prioritizing their positioning to keep their top-10 protected first-round pick over keeping their play-in hopes alive. 

Doncic had expressed his desire to do precisely the opposite when speaking to reporters at Tuesday's practice. The Mavs went on to defeat the Sacramento Kings during a Wednesday matchup, keeping elimination at bay. 

“No, I’m playing tomorrow (against Sacramento),” Doncic said on Tuesday. “When there’s still a chance, I’m going to play. So, that’s not going to happen yet.”

Even after Wednesday's win over the Kings, Doncic remained confident in the Mavs' outlook to compete for play-in qualification. He understood the difficulty of the next two games, but expressed confidence in a "special" group players he's playing alongside. 

“Well, yeah," Doncic said when asked if he thinks the Mavs can do damage in the play-in. "Where we’re at, we have to win two really tough games, but yeah. We’re confident, for sure. But we’ve got to get there first. We have a lot of special players and we’re confident.”

The Bulls will be without no shortage of key players in their own right after locking in the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan already have been ruled out due to rest. 

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