Luka Doncic suffered a left ankle sprain in the opening minutes of the Dallas Mavericks’ January 26th game against the Phoenix Suns by accidentally stepping on a Suns player’s foot while pivoting. Before this injury Luka was on a tear, averaging 33 points per game second in the league, next to only Joel Embiid, 8.9 rebounds per game, 8.4 assists per game and a 49.7% field goal percentage, which considering the amount of shots he’s taking per game is very impressive. This means the Mavs are in trouble as the next best player on their team is Christian Wood who’s only averaging 18.4 points per game, 8.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and shooting 53.5%.

His injury opens up opportunities for other teams in the west such as the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz to climb the standings. This also helps teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans because the Mavs, as division rivals, are a little less scary. This injury doesn’t just affect the teams, it also affects the players, specifically in the MVP race before the injury the front runners for MVP were Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum. Steph Curry is also talked about. Since Luka is hurt this might be a good opportunity for back to back reigning MVP, the Denver Nuggets’ own Nikola Jokic and Jayson Taytum to push away from Luka in the MVP race. As we head into the All Star Break there are still many questions surrounding the NBA but one thing is clear, it will be a wild ride.