Just hours before the Dallas Mavericks tipoff against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team ruled out Kyrie Irving due to illness. He joins Luka Dončić (left calf strain), Naji Marshall (illness), and Danté Exum (right wrist surgery) as players already ruled out for Friday’s game.
The Mavericks still have P.J. Washington (right knee sprain) and Maxi Kleber (right oblique strain) as questionable to play. Dallas went from being 7-2 in games played without Dončić to 1-3 without him during their four-game road trip.
Dallas will rely heavily on Spencer Dinwiddie and Jaden Hardy in the backcourt amid injuries. If one of Washington or Kleber is ruled out, the Mavericks will depend on Olivier-Maxence Prosper to fill a more significant role.
Washington sprained his knee during the second quarter of Wednesday’s 110-99 loss against the Houston Rockets, causing him to be ruled out for the entire second half. He didn’t return to the Mavericks’ bench for the remainder of the night. He similarly sprained his right knee in November, causing him to miss five games.
“P.J.‘s a big part of it,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said about losing Washington to injury. “It’s a challenge for our guys, but next man up. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough firepower tonight to win.”
Washington, averaging 12.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists, was described by Quentin Grimes as possibly being the Mavericks’ “most important guy” for doing the little things and providing versatility.
“He’s kind of our most important guy we have on the court,” Grimes said. “He does it all – shoots, defends. Everything he does he impacts the game, so it’s tough knowing that we didn’t have kind of our most important guy on this team.
“But we’ve got plenty of guys that can kind go out and fill a role and just try to impact the game like he does,” Grimes added. “But it’s tough when you’ve got the guy who does so much for us go out in the second half.”
The Mavericks tip off against the Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. CT at the American Airlines Center.
