When the Dallas Mavericks begin their Western Conference playoff journey on Saturday afternoon against the Utah Jazz, their superstar scorer and facilitator will likely be sitting on the bench, forced to watch the action in street clothes. Luka Doncic, who suffered a left calf strain in the team's regular season finale, currently has no timetable for return, which places his series status in doubt.
Doncic sustained the injury in the third quarter of a meaningless game against the San Antonio Spurs last Sunday, when he landed awkwardly after elevating for a pass inside the paint. The 23-year-old's absence would be a devastating blow for the Mavericks, which have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the time since 2011. And if he can't take the court against the Jazz, the team's hopes of making a title run may be squashed rather quickly.
"The Mavericks -- whether they're being coy intentionally or just don't know -- we don't know anything about Luka," SI.com writer Howard Beck explained to The DA Show on Thursday. "We know this much: the Mavericks have no shot of getting anywhere without Doncic. They might not even win a game. I mean, if Luka Doncic didn't play the first four games, they're probably losing the first four games to the Utah Jazz.
"Not because the Utah Jazz are some massive powerhouse -- they're a very solid veteran team that's been playing together for years. And the Mavericks are completely centralized on and completely dependent on Doncic. They're not getting anywhere without him... Are [Steph] Curry or Doncic back in time to help their teams really make a deep run? Because neither of these teams is making a deep run without them."
Doncic, a first-team All-NBA selection in the past two seasons, averaged 28.4 points with 9.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists across 65 games. Among the league ranks, his 1,874 total points scored was seventh-highest, and he was the only player to average at least 28 points, eight boards, and eight assists per game. Doncic actually wouldn't have been eligible to play for Dallas on Sunday if his 16th technical foul of the season wasn't reviewed and rescinded by the NBA.
The fourth-seeded Mavericks and sixth-seeded Jazz will begin their opening-round series at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday at American Airlines Center. According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, Dallas has a 45-percent chance to make the West semifinals and just a 14-percent chance to reach the conference finals. The Mavericks went 8-9 without Doncic in 17 games this season.
The entire NBA playoffs conversation between Beck and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
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