Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber tore his right hamstring at a team practice Tuesday, Dallas has announced (via Twitter).
The extent of the damage to the ligament had previously not been known, and the ailment had first been diagnosed as a sprain, but clearly further analysis has indicated that the outcome is more severe.
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) initially reported that Kleber was expected to miss six-to-eight weeks, but Tim MacMahon of ESPN (via Twitter) suggests that treatment options, including surgery, are still being weighed, so it sounds like there’s no set timeline yet. The Mavericks have ruled the forward out indefinitely.
As Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets, the Mavericks have gone just 1-5 in the six games Kleber has missed thus far this season. Reserve center Christian Wood seems to be in line for more minutes now, Townsend adds.
Across 25.6 MPG, the 6’10” Kleber had been averaging 6.2 PPG on .490/.369/.786 shooting splits in 22 games for Dallas. The 30-year-old also has chipped in 3.5 RPG, 1.0 APG and 1.0 BPG.
Losing Kleber for an extended period will be a major loss for the Mavs’ frontline. His relative mobility for his size and his ability to shoot triples at a solid clip (36.9% on 3.0 tries a night) made him a reliable bench option for the 14-14 club.
Mo Bamba & Chuma Okeke for Davis Bertans, Dal’s unprotected 2026 1st & Dal’s 2027 2nd.. Orlando gets a valuable 1st for a guy in Bamba who will be replaced in the rotation as soon as JIsaac & WCarter returns. They have to take on Bertans contract but they could use his shooting, esp as the TRoss era comes to a close… Dallas gets an upgrade in the frontcourt, esp defensively. Bamba could be the starting 5 they’ve been looking for, plus they get off Bertans bad contract
Time to blow the Mavs roster up. Hardaway has been the worst starting SF and Powell the worst starting C in basketball. Combine that with the loss of Brunson, Finney-Smith’s atrocious play, and McGee’s poor fit this season … there are no quick fixes. They are not 1 player away from contending for a title this season. They are at least 2 or 3 impact players away. Not happening.
Anybody not named Luka needs to be up for discussion. Mavs need to accumulate future assets, not continue to trade them away.
That will most definitely lead to Luka demanding a trade. He’s not gonna want to play for a team that isn’t trying to win the title
Cuban should have considered that when he let Brunson walk.
Honestly it is crazy that the Mavericks lost their second best player for no compensation … on a contract that almost no one thinks is bad (even if it isn’t a bargain)
How do you not just overpay the guy, just to have him to trade if nothing else? Now Mavs can’t even easily toss salary in a trade without getting rid of players they actually need to retain
Not crazy at all when they had a chance to extend him for less money prior to last season, and opted to not to do it.
The Knicks came with a bag, tampered and hired his Dad as an assistant coach. Brunson knew he was gone long before last year’s playoff run began.
Nothing you said was incorrect, yet Cubes and co could have still offered him a contract starting at, say, 35m per
Or better yet they could have called up Rose and said “We’re going to offer him a contract starting at 35m per *unless you agree to a sign and trade so we get some assets in return*”
Or better yet if it was that obvious Brunson was gone then flip him at last year’s TDL
But to lose him for zero is ultimately a failure on Dallas’s part, even if they screwed up initially by not offering the ext
When have Mavs competed for a Title ????
They overachieved against Suns last yr.
In 2011 they won the title. Lol
DAL isn’t blowing anything up, and, if even they did, and had Luka’s blessing for it, the fall out wouldn’t be a basket of future assets. At least not the type that can lead to a quick retooling.
Off season wasn’t a complete dud. They got Wood for nothing. Their screw up was not in failing to sign Brunson (that was largely outside of their control), but in not being open to a S&T if he wanted to go elsewhere and – worse – publicly saying so in advance. Dated strategy, at best. A team over the cap can’t be playing a game chicken like that, they have to be prepared to mitigate the impact losing any of their UFAs. NYK didn’t need a S&T, but DAL could have proposed several configurations that would have been mutually beneficial, particularly if DAL located another UFA ready to sign with them. If they don’t want to keep Wood (a UFA after the season) longer term, they should not make the same mistake.
We’re 1-5 without Kleber. That surprise me.
Pretty sure I got scolded when I said this was a bad re-sign. Can’t predict injuries, but they overpaid this dude for what he actually does. Should have put money elsewhere.