The Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics will meet on Saturday for the first time since the NBA Finals when the Celtics took home their first championship since 2008. Luka Doncic was pushing through a myriad of injuries in that series, now he's sitting out die to injuries.
Doncic is one of seven Mavericks on the injury report for Saturday's matchup, as he remains out with a calf strain. He's being re-evaluated on Saturday by the Mavericks' training staff, so there should be some update on his status soon. They had been confident that he could return before the All-Star Break in mid-February.
Dereck Lively II will be out until sometime around the start of the playoffs due to a small stress fracture in his right ankle. One of his backups, Dwight Powell, is also out for this game, as he's dealing with a right hip strain. Daniel Gafford and Maxi Kleber (on a minute restriction), will be Dallas' only available centers.
Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) remains out, and while he's been getting some pregame shootarounds in, Jason Kidd believes Exum is still a ways away from returning. Naji Marshall also remains out for the third straight game with an illness.
Klay Thompson has been upgraded to questionable after missing the last two games with a left ankle sprain. Dallas acquired him this offseason because they believed he could push them over the top against a team like Boston, so if he plays, this would be the first test toward that.
Jaden Hardy is also questionable to play with a right ankle sprain. He went down in a matchup against the Thunder on January 17th and has missed the three games since.
The Celtics had a clean injury report for their blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, but Derrick White is questionable for this matchup with left knee soreness. They have some players on G-League assignments, but everyone else will be available, including former Maverick Kristaps Porzingis.
