DALLAS – All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and four key Dallas Mavericks role players will sit out Friday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, a game the Mavericks must win to avoid being eliminated from the play-in scenario.
The Mavs announced late Friday morning that Irving (right foot injury recovery), shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (left ankle soreness), small forward Josh Green (rest), and power forward/centers Maxi Kleber (right hamstring injury recovery) and Christian Wood (rest) would all sit out against the Bulls, essentially for precautionary reasons.
Dallas (38-42) is tied with the Bulls for the 10th-best lottery odds and owes the New York Knicks a top-10 protected pick as the final payment for the Kristaps Porzingis trade.
The Mavericks must win Friday night and Sunday afternoon against the San Antonio Spurs, and the Oklahoma City Thunder must lose at home Sunday to the Memphis Grizzlies, for the Mavs to qualify for the play-in as the Western Conference’s No. 10 seed.
“We were fighting for our lives, and understanding this is a situation we’re in, but the organization has made the decision to change,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said during his pregame media availability. “So, you know, we have to go by that and that’s something that happens. So the guys that are playing, we got to go out there and put our best foot forward and we talked about that this afternoon.
“And the guys that are playing are gonna go out and try to play to win. You gotta be pros. You can’t cheat the game.”
All-Star guard Luka Doncic, who was listed as probable due to left thigh injury recovery, will only play the first quarter, Kidd said.
On Tuesday, Doncic publicly rejected the idea of sitting out down the stretch as a tanking measure to protect the Mavs’ lottery position.
“When there’s still a chance, I’m gonna play,” Doncic said Tuesday when asked about sitting out down the stretch. “So that’s not gonna happen yet.”
Asked how Doncic reacted to the organization’s plan Wednesday, Kidd said: “I can’t speak for him. But I think when you look at, we all said that we want to have the opportunity to find a way to get in. And we were gonna play until told otherwise. And today is the day that we’ve been told that we’re gonna do something different. And so he’s gonna participate in the first quarter and then he’s done for the season.”
Mavs governor Mark Cuban, who paid a $600,000 fine in 2018 for publicly admitting the Mavs were tanking, said Wednesday night that “of course I understand” the thought process from fans that protecting the lottery position is Dallas’ smartest strategy down the stretch.
“The guys don’t wanna do that,” Cuban said. “Players aren’t gonna do that. Players don’t do that.”
Kidd said the decision was made by Cuban and Mavs general manager Nico Harrison. He said he was not involved in the decision-making process.
Does Kidd agree with the decision?
“Those are my bosses,” Kidd said, “so yes.”