Mavs guard Josh Green's untimely injury provides perfect opportunity for young wing

With the Dallas Mavericks doing everything in their power to stay afloat in the race to get out of the Western Conference’s Play-In Tournament, the team has suffered a few minor injuries throughout this recent stretch that could jeopardize Dallas’ chances of moving up in the standings.

Most notably, Mavericks' superstar Luka Doncic hurt his hamstring toward the end of Dallas' victory against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, which caused Doncic to miss the Mavericks' game against the Oklahoma City Thunder the following night.

While Doncic is back in the lineup for Dallas, the Mavericks last few games have become increasingly physical and given the current state of affairs in the NBA, don't expect the Mavericks to play any less physical amidst the remaining stretch of regular season games that the team has. Whether this increase in physicality is causing some of thhe Mavericks to get banged up or not is another story though, as Dallas saw two of their point-of-attack defenders go down in their loss to Oklahoma City on Thursday night.

Mavs guard Josh Green's untimely injury provides perfect opportunity for young wing

Dante Exum was able to return to Dallas' contest on Thursday night after getting banged up during the second half, but Mavericks' wing Josh Green unfortunately wasn't able to return after spraining his right ankle early on in the game.

Green could miss significant time with this ankle injury, so the Mavericks should work to ensure that he will be healthy before the playoffs before anything else, as the Mavericks can't risk Green being absent from the postseason entirely because of him re-aggravating his ankle due to rushing back to play too quickly.

Green's injury leaves a vacant spot in the rotation for Dallas, one that could be filled by 23-year-old wing A.J. Lawson. Lawson has been out of Dallas' rotation since December, but he was recently converted to a standard contract after being on a two-way the last two seasons for the Mavericks.

Lawson is poised to seize an opportunity to get into Dallas' rotation once he gets some real minutes, as the young wing provides many of the attributes that the Mavericks are looking for from that position. Lawson is an extremely quick point-of-attack defender, and he attacks the basket relentlessly in transition and when operating off of the catch.

Lawson is arguably a better defender than Green, but he's definitely less consistent offensively and as a 3-point shooter on the flip side. While Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd may need to condense Dallas' rotation against top opponents due to Green's injury, Kidd should consider implementing Lawson into Dallas' rotation when the Mavericks are facing teams in the middle to lower range of the league.

Dallas could use a jolt at the point of attack on defense, but only time will tell if Kidd opts to give Lawson an opportunity to harness that role with only 14 games remaining in the Mavericks' season. For more on A.J. Lawson and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks, stay tuned as we'll have you covered.