Luka Doncic Expected to Miss 'Extended Period of Time' With Calf Injury

Yet another injury for Doncic this season, and this one is expected to cost him a few weeks

Dec 23, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) checks the scoreboard during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Luka Doncic left Wednesday's Christmas game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a few minutes remaining in the first half. He tried to do a stepback, and he immediately felt something in his calf, passing the ball off before hobbling straight to the locker room after a timeout.

ESPN's Shams Charania believes Doncic could be out for a while, which could take him out of the race for postseason awards.

READ MORE: Mavericks' Comeback Bid to Timberwolves on Christmas Falls Just Short, Lose 105-99

"The Dallas Mavericks are bracing for star Luka Doncic to miss an extended period of time after sustaining a calf strain, sources tell me and [Tim McMahon]. Doncic left the arena on crutches today in Dallas. He is expected to undergo an MRI on Thursday," Charania posted on Twitter/X late Wednesday night.

Doncic has already missed eight games this season with a vast array of injuries, ranging from a calf contusion in the preseason, a knee contusion that forced him to miss one game, a groin strain but didn't miss any games with that, a wrist sprain forced him to miss five games, and then a heel contusion forced him to miss two games against the LA Clippers last week.

With the new structure to NBA postseason awards, such as All NBA teams or MVP, players have to play in at least 65 games to be eligible, meaning Doncic can only miss nine more games to stay eligible. Depending on how long he's out, Doncic's streak of consecutive First-Team All-NBAs may be over.

Doncic entered the season as the favorite to win MVP, and started the season averaging 28.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 8.1 APG. He'd been playing his best basketball of the season since returning from the wrist strain.

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