2 min read • January 22, 2022
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Luka Doncic is working to recover from a neck strain in time for the Mavericks' Sunday soiree with Ja Morant and the Grizzlies.
Doncic injured his neck with a little over a minute left in the 3rd quarter Thursday vs the Suns when he was knocked down by DeAndre Ayton on an attempted.
The 23-year-old said after the game he did not expect to miss any time from the ailment, but our team of ProBasketballDocs say he shouldn't be so sure about that.
Based on video, the 2-time all-star strained his neck as a result of holding his head upright to avoid hitting it on the hardwood after bouncing off of Ayton.
Despite his eventual return to the contest with 7:25 left in the game, we won't know the degree of the strain or his potential effectiveness until closer to the contest.
Often after trauma, muscles will be more sore the day after, although Doncic will attempt to combat that with "a lot of massages and a steam room" to be ready for Sunday's 4:30 PM PST tipoff.
In the long run, this is not a serious injury, but is another addition to the laundry list of ailments that have affected Doncic this season. He's missed 15 games from 3 different ankle sprains and a bout with COVID-19, not to mention the back and now neck hits he has taken in the last few weeks.
The Mavericks are 26-20, but only 5-10 without Doncic.
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