Luka Doncic MRI shows no significant issues with thigh

Luka Doncichad an MRI that showed no significant issues with his bothersomeleft thigh, easing some concerns for the Dallas Mavericks that theAll-Star might miss major time as they push for a playoff spot, aperson with direct knowledge of the situation said Thursday.

That personspoke of condition of anonymity to The Associated Press becausethere was no announcement from the team about Doncic’s status. Heis averaging 33 points a game, and made an early exit a dayearlier. ESPN first reported the MRI result.

Doncic saidafterleaving in the third quarter ofWednesday night’s 113-106 loss at New Orleansthat hecould barely run and was in too much pain to be effective. He hassaid that he first noticed the thigh issue when he woke up after agame about three weeks ago.

“I didn’t gethit. So, it’s kind of weird for me,” Doncic said Wednesday night.“I really don’t know what it is.”

He said thatif the MRI came back clear he hoped ice and physical therapy wouldhelp him return quickly. Doncic said the injury affects his abilityto run somewhat, but mostly bothers him on jump shots.

Dallas(34-33) was narrowly in the Western Conference playoff picture with15 games remaining. The Mavericks next play on Saturday night atMemphis.

Going intoThursday, the Mavericks were in eighth place in the WesternConference. They were only a half-game out of sixth place to avoidthe play-in tournament, and only 2 1/2 games above 11th place thatwould leave them out completely.

Doncic hasbeen trying to play through the injury and had been productiverecently. He scored 42 in a victory over Philadelphia, 34 in a lossto Phoenix and 29 in a win over Utah on Tuesday night.

But againstthe Pelicans,he was 4 of 14 with 15 points whenhe leftafter missing a step-back jumper.

“We all cansee he’s not moving well. So, shooting, defense, it’s affectingeverything,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said after the game. “He’strying to fight through it and help his teammates.”

In his lasthome game Sunday, whenDoncic missed a late floater thatwould have tied the Suns, he had left the court in the secondquarter for treatment on a his left thigh. He said then that it wasthe worst the injury had felt, but three days later he couldn’tfinish a game.