Mavericks guard Luka Dončić won't play vs. Thunder due to hamstring soreness
The left hamstring injury that Luka Dončić suffered Wednesday not only ended his string of seven consecutive games with a triple-double, but now it's keeping him off the court.
Ahead of the Dallas Mavericks' game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, Marc Stein reported the Mavericks superstar guard would neither play nor travel with the team for the contest.
Dallas' game against the Thunder is a pivotal one as the Mavericks sit in eighth place in the Western Conference and are still jockeying for a postseason berth when the playoffs begin in a little more than a month.
Dončić injured his hamstring Wednesday night in the Mavericks' 109-99 win over the Golden State Warriors.
He left the game with 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists to end his historic streak. Dončić set league records for the most consecutive triple-doubles with at least 30 points (six) and 35 points (five).
Head coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the game the situation is "fluid" right now, and he's awaiting more information on the full extent of the injury.
"I'll have a better answer tomorrow," Kidd said. "We'll see. This is a fluid thing."
The fifth-year veteran told Kidd he needed to exit the game Wednesday night.
Seconds before, Doncic was seen with a heating pad on his left hamstring before subbing in. He came up wincing after tossing an alley-oop to center Daniel Gafford and landing awkwardly after the assist.
"[Doncic] gave me the signal that his [hamstring] was tight, so we took him out," Kidd said after the game.
In the last two years, the 25-year-old has dealt with several leg injuries that have kept him out of 17 contests. He missed more than a week this time last year due to a left thigh strain.
A right quad strain forced him to miss a game in December 2022, and Doncic missed two weeks to close out the 2021-22 season and the first three games of Dallas' playoff series against the Utah Jazz, thanks to a left-leg strain.
This season, Doncic is averaging 34.3 points, 9.8 assists and 9 rebounds in 58 games this season.
