Mavericks' risky gamble backfires as Luka Doncic will miss at least one week

Injuries have not been Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic's friend this season.

Doncic started training camp with a calf contusion and later suffered a right knee contusion that caused him to miss Sunday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He returned to action on Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans and helped lead the Mavs to a 41-point victory, and even though he was moving much better, it was clear he wasn't at 100 percent.

Doncic still ended up finishing 26 points, five rebounds, and five assists, and after the game, there was an indication that he had suffered another injury in that game.

Doncic showed up to his postgame press conference with his right wrist wrapped, and when asked about this injury, he said that it was "nothing serious." He said the pain in his wrist started in the first quarter, and it progressively got worse as the game went on. Doncic played into the fourth quarter of the blowout affair against New Orleans despite this pain in his wrist, and now Doncic's self-evaluation of the injury being no big deal is just a thing of the past.

Luka Doncic's warrior mindset comes back to bite him

The Mavericks announced that Doncic suffered a right wrist sprain against the Pelicans, and he will miss time. Doncic will be re-evaluated in one week, and he truly can't catch a break when it comes to these injuries.

Doncic is known as a warrior and someone who always fights through injuries, but him playing in this game against New Orleans was a risky decision to begin with. The Pelicans were nearly without everyone, as Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins, CJ McCollum, and Dejounte Murray all didn't play, and Doncic's determination to play through pain could have directly led to further setbacks.

The Mavericks weren't in the easiest spot when it comes to playing him or not considering that Doncic hates to miss games, and the wrist injury is super unlucky and has no correlation to his knee injury. Dallas could have considered pulling Doncic early on in the game when he started to feel pain in his wrist to minimize the risk of making it worse, but taking into account what he said after the game, he likely just brushed the injury off and thought it was a minor tweak.

Dallas has to balance what Doncic wants to do with what is best for the team, and him injuring his wrist at this time shows how unpredictable the NBA and the human body can be. Small tweaks can turn into something serious over time, and now he has to deal with his wrist and knee.

Right as he was starting to get over the hump of his knee injury and showing progress, the wrist sprain happened. This wrist sprain didn't seem to hinder his performance too much against the Pelicans considering that it was on his shooting arm and he still shot 10-16 from the field, but given the blowout nature of the game, Doncic playing into the fourth quarter was an unnecessary risk especially since his wrist was bothering him and he already had it wrapped.

Not to mention that Tuesday night's game was an NBA Cup game, and the point differential tiebreaker is something that was talked about among the Mavs. Jason Kidd emphasized that the Mavs didn't want to run up the score against New Orleans and was just letting the offense flow, but playing Doncic into the fourth quarter could have played into that.

With this wrist injury, Doncic now gets to simultaneously rehab the knee injury that has caused him to not be himself lately. The timing of the injury is unfortunate, but the Mavs' upcoming stretch of games shouldn't be too challenging. Although the Mavs play the Denver Nuggets on Friday, there's a chance that Nikola Jokic won't play due to "personal reasons."

The Mavs then travel to Miami and Atlanta for games on Sunday and Monday night, and this injury will allow Doncic to stay in Dallas (if he decides not to travel) and fully focus on getting healthy. Both the Hawks and Heat are below .500, and Kyrie Irving and company will have a great shot at taking them down even without Doncic. Dallas beat Oklahoma City without Doncic earlier this week, and Irving is more than capable of carrying the load while Doncic is out.

Considering that Doncic won't be re-evaluated for another week, it looks like the first game that he could possibly return for is next Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.

Finding a happy balance of Doncic's passion to play in games even when he's injured combined with him and the Mavs making the right decision when it comes to his health will improve over time, and we could see a rejuvenated Doncic once he returns to the floor. This time off should allow him to fully recover, and he'll be ready to lead the Mavs once again when the time is right.