Injury Notes: Mavs, Rockets, Wemby, Kawhi, Huerter

It’s been three weeks since Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving sustained a heel contusion that has sidelined him ever since, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Irving has missed the past 12 games, and he’s doubtful for Saturday’s contest against Golden State.

Doubtful typically means the player won’t suit up, but in Irving’s case, it’s actually an upgrade — he’s been listed as out every previous game since November 8, when the injury occurred. Fellow star guard Luka Doncic, who missed Thursday’s game against the Wolves with left quad soreness, is questionable, Townsend adds.

The Mavs got off to a strong start to the season and are still 18-14, but they’re just 2-5 over their past seven games, Townsend notes, and getting whole again would be a welcome sight for the team, especially with Doncic carrying such a heavy workload this month.

“We still have some injuries, so we’ve got to keep it together,” Doncic said. “Everybody’s got to stay together and keep the next-man-up mentality.”

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

• The Rockets were down two starters — Dillon Brooks (oblique) and Jabari Smith (left ankle sprain) — on Friday against Philadelphia, and head coach Ime Udoka was vague in describing a possible return timeline for the two forwards, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Not exact dates, but hopefully it is a shorter-term thing, two or three games possibly,” Udoka said. “Don’t want to give exact. About a week or so.” However, Udoka added that oblique injuries “can be tricky” to recover from, so Brooks’ timeline is particularly hazy.
• Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft, will be on a minutes restriction for a couple weeks until he undergoes another MRI, head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters, including Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Wembanyama suffered a right ankle sprain when he stepped on a ball boy’s foot during warmups last Saturday against Dallas.
• Head coach Tyronn Lue previously stated that Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard practiced for “a little bit” on Thursday, but he clarified on Friday that Leonard had a post-practice workout and hasn’t been cleared to resume practicing, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Lue added that Leonard aggravated an old hip contusion that he sustained earlier this month and had played through. He missed his fourth straight game on Friday.
• Kings sharpshooter Kevin Huerter suffered a left hand injury in the first half of Friday’s game vs. Atlanta and was later ruled out, tweets James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com. It’s unclear if the injury is related to the left finger sprain that caused Huerter to miss his lone game of the 2023/24 season back in November.