Luka Doncic Ruled Out for Mavericks-Nuggets Showdown

Luka Doncic missed Thursday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with hamstring soreness. On Saturday, it was revealed that Doncic will be questionable for Sunday’s game with right hamstring soreness against the Denver Nuggets. Luka also practiced on Saturday, which is certainly a positive update.

Dante Exum is also listed as questionable with a right plantar fascia sprain. Josh Green, who suffered an ankle injury during Dallas’ 126-119 loss to the Thunder on Thursday, has been ruled out due to a right ankle sprain. Brandon Williams is out as well with a left wrist sprain.

Doncic previously received a positive update from NBA insider Shams Charania and the Mavs are certainly hopeful he will be ready to go against the defending champions. Dallas has struggled without Doncic this year. With that being said, Kyrie Irving gave them a chance to win without Luka on Thursday and he is capable of leading the team to victory.

Irving scored 36 points and recorded 12 assists in the Mavericks’ Thursday defeat. It was his fourth consecutive game scoring 30 or more points without Doncic on the floor, per MavsMuse. Dallas has enough depth to find success as well, with players such as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Daniel Gafford stepping up in recent action.

Hope will not be lost if Doncic is not able to play Sunday. But Dallas’ odds of defeating the Nuggets will unquestionably increase if Luka is made available.

Luka Doncic questionable vs. Nuggets

Luka has established himself as an MVP candidate once again. Doncic leads the league in scoring with 34.3 points per outing on 49.4 percent field goal and 37.8 percent three-point shooting. The Mavericks star has been productive in other areas as well, averaging 9.0 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.

Of course, taking on his friend Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets will be a challenge to say the least. Doncic and Jokic had fun and laughed with one another throughout NBA All-Star Weekend, and it will likely be more of the same before Sunday’s clash.

In the end, though, Luka and Jokic are competitive and will do whatever it takes to win. These two will want nothing more than to defeat one another once the game gets underway.

Of course, Luka Doncic will need to be upgraded from questionable to available before that happens. We will continue to monitor and provide updates on his status as they are made available.