DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The entire Mavericks organization is holding their breaths tonight after All-Star guard Luka Doncic exited the team's regular-season finale on Sunday night vs. the Spurs with a strained left calf.
With around 2:30 left in the third quarter, Doncic called for a timeout and grabbed his left calf. He limped off the court with director of player performance Casey Smith at his side.
It's unknown when exactly Doncic suffered the injury, but it didn't take long for the team to announce that he would miss the rest of the game with a strained left calf.
The injury occurred in what amounted to a meaningless game in the Western Conference playoff standings. The Mavs were up on the Spurs by 18 points when Doncic was injured, while the Golden State Warriors, who were just one game ahead of Dallas for the No. 3 seed in the West coming into tonight's games, had a 25 point lead over the Pelicans.
After the game, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said he had yet to speak with the medical staff about Doncic and they'll know more about the severity of the guard's injury on Monday.
When asked why Doncic was still in the game with the No. 3 seed seemingly out of reach, Kidd said the plan was to play the starters their full complement of minutes through three quarters with the long layoff between games.
Doncic will have five or six days to heal up with their first-round series vs. the Utah Jazz set to begin on Saturday or Sunday. Although not official, Kidd said the team expects Game 1 to be held at 12 p.m. on Saturday at the American Airlines Center.