Luka Doncic Injury Update: Mavs Star Speaks Out

Luka Doncic re-aggravated his ankle injury during the second half of the Dallas Mavericks' loss to the Indiana Pacers. He shared an update on his injury.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic has been playing through the soreness caused by an ankle sprain that was suffered on Nov. 15 during the 111-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Doncic, who finished playing 37 minutes, re-aggravated his ankle injury during the third quarter of Friday's 106-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers. He told reporters after the game he tried to play through it but shouldn't have played in the fourth quarter.

“I probably shouldn’t have played in the fourth,” said Doncic. “I wasn’t feeling very good, but I tried to be out there. We’ll see how it is tomorrow.”

"Tomorrow'' is today's Sunday meeting with OKC. And Luka has already been ruled out.

It was apparent that Doncic was being impacted by the ankle injury. He did have an opportunity to come out but he waved off the substitution the Mavericks were attempting to make in order for to stay in the game. 

Despite the ankle injury, Doncic finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. However, he finished just 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) from three-point range in what ended up being a night where the Mavericks as a team finished 4-of-29 (13.8 percent) from deep. 

There's a heavy burden currently placed on Doncic to play at a superstar level night in, night out for the Mavericks. Dallas has lost all four games they have played without him. When considering the team is 12-13, it doesn't afford clean opportunities for rest. 

Back on Dec. 7, Doncic even made it clear that he was playing and practicing through ankle and knee pain. While playing through the rigors of an NBA regular season doesn't tend to be best way to get a nagging injury to ultimately heal, Doncic has continued to try to make it work. 

“I try to play," Doncic said. "I try to practice. But it’s still painful.”

The next opponent on the Mavericks' schedule is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have a better record than only the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and New Orleans Pelicans so far this season. 

Doncic, it could be argued, is receiving a resting opportunity against the Thunder. ... and it could be as good a chance as there's going to be in the near future to do such a thing.