Oct 24, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) reacts to a play against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis among stars missing Mavericks-Pelicans

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Nov 5, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Dallas Mavericks are back at home on Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, and both teams are missing their biggest stars just two weeks into the season. Despite Zion Williamson showing up into the season in the best shape of his NBA career, he's now going to be out for a few games.

Dallas is awaiting the return of Anthony Davis, who is dealing with a low-grade calf strain. They said he would be reevaluated once they returned home, and while they haven't released any extra updates so far besides ruling him out for this game. If his severity of calf strain is to be believed, it's usually a 1-2 week injury, not a 2-3 game type of injury. Especially with the lack of conditioning he showed up in, they need to be careful with Davis.

Unfortunately, they don't really have the time to be careful. This is a very competitive Western Conference, and if they're serious about contending (they shouldn't be), they need to start winning games, especially one like this against a bad Pelicans team. These are games they have to win, and it's not even guaranteed because of how lifeless they've looked so far.

Full Pelicans-Mavericks Injury Report

Outside of Davis, the Mavericks will also still be missing Kyrie Irving (left ACL surgery recovery), Dante Exum (right knee injury management), and Dereck Lively II (right knee sprain). NBA insider Marc Stein revealed that Lively is also supposed to be reevaluated this week, which would be great for an update. There hasn't really been much revealed so far about Lively's injury, and even less about Exum's injury.

The Pelicans haven't submitted their injury report yet, since they played last night, but we know they'll be without Zion Williamson for sure. ESPN's Shams Charania announced on Tuesday that Williamson will miss 7-10 days with a hamstring strain, and it wouldn't be surprising if he missed more than that.

We also know that the Pelicans will be without guard Dejounte Murray, who is still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon last season. He'll be back at some point this year, but he's still probably a few months away from that.

Last game, the Pelicans were also without Yves Missi on Tuesday night, who was dealing with an illness, which led to some more playing time for rookie Derik Queen. There's a lot of pressure on that rookie, considering how much they gave up for him.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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