Dallas Mavericks receives very good news: Luka Doncic's MRI was clean, to be re-evaluated this weekend

Fantastic news for Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. The slovenian superstar had to exit Wednesday game against the Golden State Warriors due to a hamstring injury that also left him out of Thursday matchup between the Mavs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Fortunately, the MRI results showed no major damage so Luka is expected to be re-evaluated during this weekend.

The Dallas Mavericks are currently 8th in the Western Conference, with a 38-29 record, followed closely by the Los Angeles Lakers, sitting at the 9th spot with 36-31 record.

To appreciate how important is the presence of Luka Doncic on court for Dallas, he's their best scorer on the team -in fact he leads the NBA in most points scored so far this season-, he's the best passer in the squad -also, he's top three in assists in all NBA as well-, and in addition, he also leads the Mavs in rebounds per game. He's leading Dallas in every major statistics this season, and has been this way for several seasons now.

The Mavs dependance on Luka is almost a problem for them. With Doncic out for 9 games this 2023-24 NBA season, Dallas holds a 3-6 record. So it's pretty clear how happy all the fans must be when hearing that Luka's injury isn't severe.

With 15 games left, the Mavericks can't afford to lose more games if they want to make a push for a direct playoffs trip. The Lakers are two victories behind them, but the good news is that the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings, currently 7th and 6th in the standings, are also two games away from them, so their chances to avoid the play-in and go to the playoffs directly are real.

However, they need to learn how to win without Luka in order to give the former 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year the proper time to recover and return fully healthy, and not to rush his comeback and take the risk of worsening his injury.

The Mavericks host the Nuggets on Sunday then travel to San Antonio for their next game on Tuesday. Two key matchups for their aspirations. They'll see how Doncic feels before deciding if he plays against Denver.