Mavs vs. Lakers Injury Updates: Latest on Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James & Anthony Davis

The Dallas Mavericks have ruled Luka Doncic out for what will be his fourth consecutive missed game on Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Will Kyrie Irving or Anthony Davis play?

Dalton Trigg | Mar 16, 2023

Mavs vs. Lakers Injury Updates: Latest on Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James & Anthony Davis /

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As it turns out, Luka Doncic's thigh strain might be worse that many initially realized. Either that, or the Dallas Mavericks are just being extremely cautious in order to have the best version of Doncic possible for the postseason.

With a gigantic matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers coming up on Friday night, the Mavs have officially ruled out Doncic, who will miss his fourth consecutive game with a nagging thigh strain.

Although the playoffs aren't guaranteed for the Mavs, the last thing they'd want is for Doncic to re-aggravate the injury heading into the postseason. Last year, Doncic strained his calf on the last game of the season, which caused him to miss the first three games of Dallas' first-round series against the Utah Jazz.

Kyrie Irving, who, like Doncic, has also missed three consecutive games, is listed as questionable with foot soreness. The Mavs were 2-0 with Irving before Doncic came back from his ankle injury on Feb. 11, so perhaps some of that magic can be rekindled in LA on Friday.

The Mavs are coming off a 137-128 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. Not only was it the Mavs' first win without Doncic and Irving playing since the trade, but five players scored 20+ points, which was a franchise record. We'll see if Dallas can keep up that momentum without Doncic, and perhaps without Irving as well.

As for the Lakers, LeBron James will remain out with a foot injury and has no timetable for his return. Anthony Davis is listed as probable for Friday's showdown. The Mavs are 35-35 and currently the No. 8 seed in the West. The Lakers are 34-36 and clinging to the No. 10 seed, which is the final Play-In Tournament spot.

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Published Mar 16, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.