Inside Mavericks Practice: Luka Dončić’s Progress, Testing Lineups, Injury News, and More

Coming off a 107-102 loss against the Utah Jazz, the Dallas Mavericks continued their preparation for the regular season by practicing at their training facility. With less than two weeks before the Mavericks’ season opener on Oct. 24 against the San Antonio Spurs, the team is grappling with a significant number of injuries that have disrupted their training camp and preseason preparations.

Luka Dončić, who has been sidelined since early in training camp, continued to be put in work as he works his way back to competition after a left calf contusion. Head coach Jason Kidd confirmed that Dončić will also miss Monday’s game against the LA Clippers. Kidd didn’t rule out Dončić’s potential availability for Thursday’s preseason finale against the Milwaukee Bucks in what will be used as a “dress rehearsal.”

Aside from Dončić, other injured players include P.J. Washington (left hip tightness), Maxi Kleber (left ankle sprain), Danté Exum (right wrist), Brandon Williams (right calf strain), and Kessler Edwards (left ankle sprain), all of whom did not play on Thursday against the Jazz. Klay Thompson can be added to this list since he wasn’t on the court during the open portion of practice and mentioned experiencing back tightness when speaking to reporters in his post-game press conference.

“He did walk through and did some stuff on the floor, did in the film room, and then he got his treatment,” Kidd said of Thompson. “So we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

With Dončić being sidelined for almost all of training camp and for most of the preseason, it’s limited the Mavericks’ ability to build on-court chemistry with him and the team’s recent newcomers, particularly Thompson. Kidd

“I’m only going to play the cards that I’m dealt that are cleared to play,” Kidd said. “We have to prepare. Luka [Dončić], Maxi [Kleber], P.J. [Washington], and whoever else is hurt… there’s a lot of ‘em. Maybe they won’t play opening night.”

Observations from Friday’s Practice

There was limited contact during Friday’s practice, given the significant number of injuries the Mavericks are dealing with currently. With it being the day after a game, plenty of focus was placed on studying film.

“Today was light since it was after the game. We did a lot of cleanup from yesterday, some film work, and reviewed our defensive and offensive principles,” Kidd explained. “We have a lot of bodies out right now, so we didn’t do much contact. We’ll get back to that tomorrow.

Considering it wasn’t a contact practice, the opportunity to gain insight into the latest regarding injuries was limited. However, Dončić played a lot of 1-on-1 with assistant coach God Shammgod and looked like his usual self.

Toward the end of Dončić’s workout, he had a stretch of some fun plays. He hit a one-legged, high-arching corner three-pointer on one play followed by trying to make a left-handed push shot. After making a regular three-pointer, he hit another one-legged jumper after setting it up using a wrap-around dribble. Lastly, as he always enjoys doing, he used Shammgod’s signature move before walking into a layup.

Dončić also pulled off a wild trick shot by kicking the ball from the corner. A great angle of this sequence was posted in a video by assistant coach Marko Milič.

Washington and Williams are progressing in their injury recoveries since they played 3-on-3 with player development coaches. “He’s been great,” Kidd said of Washington. “He got some work in today, and we’ll see how he feels for Monday.”

The Mavericks’ bigs, including Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Dwight Powell, and Jamarian Sharp spent a lot of time working on interior-focused big man drills with assistant coaches Sean Sweeney and Alex Jensen. They worked on the full circuit of interior shots that’ll be important throughout the season.

Kyrie Irving, Jaden Hardy, Spencer Dinwiddie, Quentin Grimes, and Jazian Gortman all went through a lot of shooting drill work together. This tends to be a great opportunity for the Mavericks’ veteran superstars to build the confidence of their younger teammates who try to learn as much as they can from them.

Dallas Mavericks Still Testing Lineup Combinations

Kidd plans to evaluate different combinations during the final two preseason games to determine the best option if certain players are unavailable on opening night. A specific area of focus is on the point guard spot, with Exum out for an extended period after recently undergoing surgery after a wrist injury.

“We have to be prepared,” Kidd said. “That’s what we’re looking at right now — who can handle the backup point guard [role] if Spencer has to start.”

The combination used in Los Angeles could be different than what is deployed in the preseason finale. “We’ll look at different lineups here. We have two games left. One in LA and one at home, just to see and be prepared if some of the guys who are hurt can’t go on the 24th.”

Another key storyline remains the center position. Lively and Gafford remain in competition for the starting center job, with each of them getting one start so far in preseason. It remains to be seen who will be the opening night starter, but the rest of the lineup is expected to include Dončić, Irving, Thompson, and Washington.

What the Dallas Mavericks Want to Clean Up

Friday’s practice focused on cleaning up some of the issues from Thursday’s game, particularly in the rebounding department. Kidd emphasized the need for the team’s big men to be more physical after being outworked on the boards by Utah.

“[Walker] Kessler, [Lauri] Markkanen and those guys pushed us around because we didn’t put a body on them,” Kidd said. “We’ll get another opportunity against a big center on Monday, but as a group, team rebounding has to improve.”

With just two preseason games left, the Mavericks are running out of time to work on their full rotations. With many of the sidelined players returning from last season, Kidd isn’t concerned about not having a lot of in-game reps.

“The nice thing is PJ, Luka, and Maxi have been in the system, so they understand what we’re trying to do,” Kidd said. “It shouldn’t take them that long.”

The Mavericks will practice again on Saturday before departing for Los Angeles. They will then play the first NBA game at Intuit Dome on Monday — the Clippers’ $2 billion state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood.