{"id":129467,"date":"2025-03-19T09:37:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129467"},"modified":"2025-03-19T09:45:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:45:57","slug":"banged-up-dallas-mavericks-getting-reinforcements-soon-when-will-gafford-and-martin-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/19\/banged-up-dallas-mavericks-getting-reinforcements-soon-when-will-gafford-and-martin-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Banged-Up Dallas Mavericks Getting Reinforcements Soon, When Will Gafford and Martin Return?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite everything the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> have gone through in the past month, there is good news forthcoming. According to NBA insider Mark Stein<\/a>, the Mavericks could get some reinforcements ahead of their matchup against Indiana<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Dallas<\/a> has been shorthanded for almost every game since the NBA<\/a> all-star break. Only four Mavericks have played all 13 games, and just seven have played in 11 of the contests. As a result, the Mavs are 3-10 in those games, including losing seven of their last eight.<\/p>\n

PJ Washington<\/a> did return from his injury in the Mavericks<\/a> 130-125 loss to Philadelphia<\/a> on Sunday, marking the first time the 6-7 forward played since March 1. But only the Mavs had only seven others available.<\/p>\n

Banged-Up Dallas Mavericks Getting Reinforcements Soon<\/h2>\n

Dallas has 10 players on the injury report, meaning that the Mavericks could have as few as eight players for tonight’s contest. However, Stein said that he heard that\u00a0Jaden Hardy<\/a>\u00a0(right ankle sprain) and\u00a0Kai Jones<\/a> (left quad strain) are \u201cin contention\u201d to be activated for Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

“Anthony Davis and Jaden Hardy have been officially recalled from their one-day practice stint with the Texas Legends,” Stein said on X. “<\/span>Hardy and two-way big man Kai Jones, I\u2019m told, are in contention to be active for Dallas\u2019 game Wednesday at Indiana.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Hardy has missed the past seven games due to a sprained ankle. However, the 22-year-old guard and Anthony Davis<\/a> were recalled from the Texas Legends after the pair joined the club’s G League affiliate for 5-on-5 work Monday. Meanwhile, Davis (thigh) remains out with no definite timetable for his return.<\/p>\n

Stein said this previously about Davis<\/a>: “Anthony Davis has been progressing toward an in-season return, as noted here last week, with the latest step being this assignment to the <\/span>@nbagleague<\/span><\/span>\u2019s <\/span>@TexasLegends<\/span><\/span> for practice time.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Hardy has bounced back from a disappointing sophomore season this year. Hardy was playing pretty well after the all-star break before suffering the injury and should be inserted in the starting lineup if he plays tonight. He averages 14.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists with shooting splits of 43.2\/43.8\/62.5 in three starts this season.<\/p>\n

Jones also has sat out seven straight games with a left quad strain. The athletic 24-year-old has only played one game since signing with the Mavericks, and what a monstrous performance it was, tallying 21 points on 9 of 10 shooting and grabbing eight boards.<\/p>\n

Other Players on The Injury Report<\/h3>\n

Of the other seven players listed on the Mavericks injury report, Brandon Williams<\/a> is the only other player who has a chance to suit up against the Pacers. Williams pulled his left hamstring late in the third quarter on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Williams, on a two-way deal, has taken advantage of Dallas’ injury problems and has played well. The 25-year-old guard averages 16.7 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.7 rebounds with 55.8\/35.7\/91.7 shooting splits. He has scored in double-figures in six straight games and eight of his last nine.<\/p>\n

Caleb Martin<\/a> is still dealing with a hip injury that has caused him to miss an extended period. Tonight marks the second straight absence for the 29-year-old forward. He could return on Friday when the Mavericks host Detroit, though he will likely be on a minute’s restriction.<\/p>\n

Daniel Gafford<\/a> has not played since February 10 due to a knee injury. The 26-year-old center is slated to be reevaluated on Friday. After the Mavs face the Pistons on Friday, they don’t play again until Monday at Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dereck Lively II<\/a> is progressing toward returning to the floor, though, like Davis, he remains without an official timetable.<\/p>\n

Dallas (33-36) is in 10th place in the West. The Mavericks hold a one-game edge over Phoenix (32-37).<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: \u00a9 Jerome Miron, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite everything the Dallas Mavericks have gone through in the past month, there is good news forthcoming. According to NBA insider Mark Stein, the Mavericks could get some reinforcements ahead of their matchup against Indiana on Wednesday. Dallas has been shorthanded for almost every game since the NBA all-star break. Only four Mavericks have played […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":129557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129467"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129563,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129467\/revisions\/129563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}