Mavericks power forward Maxi Kleber is set to miss at least 7-10 days of action with an oblique strain, per Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Caplan notes that the injury had initially been considered a back strain. The 6’10” big man has primarily backed up starting power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who will also miss tonight’s home game against the visiting Heat. This season, the 29-year-old Kleber is averaging 7.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 1.2 BPG in just 18.8 MPG for Dallas.
There’s more availability news coming out of Dallas.
Caplan reports that Porzingis will not play tonight in Dallas’s game against Miami, but mentions head coach Jason Kidd sounds optimistic Porzingis will be available for tomorrow’s contest against the Spurs. Porzingis has been sidelined by a back injury for the Mavericks’ past three games. Kidd noted that Porzingis was “progressing” in his recovery from the injury, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (via Twitter).
With Porzingis and Kleber both absent, tweener forward Dorian Finney-Smith looks to be the starter at power forward for Dallas. Reserve guard Jalen Brunson appears set to move into the starting lineup at shooting guard, while swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. would subsequently shift up a slot to starting small forward.
Reserve point guard Trey Burke did not comply with the league’s mandated COVID-19 testing window for the second time in the last four games, but is still set to travel with the club to San Antonio tonight, per Caplan. MacMahon tweets that Burke, who remains unvaccinated, will now miss his second game of the young 2021-22 season due to not wanting to get vaccinated, and will not be compensated for this missed game. Burke is earning $3.2M this season and holds a $3.3M player option for next season.
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