The injury curse for the Dallas Mavericks strikes again. This time, it takes not one but two victims in rookie Cooper Flagg and center Daniel Gafford. Already without Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Dereck Lively II, today’s home clash against the Denver Nuggets saw neither star return to the court.

In the third quarter, Gafford went down on an offensive play. He was trying to attack the paint, but collided with Spencer Jones. Gafford immediately looked in a lot of pain and limped to the bench. The 27-year-old tried stretching his right ankle and even walked on the sidelines to power through the pain.

But soon after, the team announced that he wouldn’t return, ending his night with 6 points (2-2 FG, 2-4 FT) and 10 rebounds in 18 minutes.

This appears to be a precautionary measure, since Gafford’s ankle has bothered him since he sprained it 10 minutes into the first practice of training camp. His exit made him the second player to bow out to an ankle injury tonight. Cooper Flagg also sprained his ankle in the game.

During the second quarter, with about six minutes left on the clock, Flagg landed awkwardly on his left ankle, twisting it. Head coach Jason Kidd immediately called a timeout as the forward headed straight to the locker room. He briefly returned, but was still favoring his ankle and left the game again at halftime.

So far this season, Flagg has played in 39 games and has remained largely injury-free. But that’s not the case for Daniel Gafford. He missed two weeks of action from December 3 to 16 after a right ankle injury against the Miami Heat. Before missing that stretch, he had also missed eight of his team’s first 22 games with this injury. It’s his third aggravation of a lingering setback.

Gafford’s on-court production has taken a massive dip, with him averaging 7.9 points per game, a career low since the 2020-21 season. His rebounds and blocks per outing have fallen too. The frontcourt was already missing 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II. While the latter is out for the season following foot surgery, what’s the status on the other players?

Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving are definitely not out for the season

Anthony Davis injured his left hand six days ago in a collision with Lauri Markkanen. The veteran was only playing his 20th game of the season and his fourth game back since suffering an injury in the Christmas Day loss. But this new ligament problem sparked controversy. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that he could require surgery and be sidelined for months. But Davis was quick to squash the narrative that his season was finished.

Responding directly on X, the 32-year-old wrote “Lies!” underneath Charania’s post, which was later deleted.

Davis tweeted again, “Yall better stop listening to all these lies on these apps!”

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Then, a new report from Charania added that Davis and his team consulted specialist Dr. Steven Shin in LA. This visit revealed that surgery wasn’t needed, but he will be re-evaluated in six weeks.

There was some positive news about Kyrie Irving’s future as well.

Irving tore his left ACL on March 3, 2025, and since then, the Mavericks have not set a timeframe for his return. Recently, Grant Afseth, an insider, stated that Irving would only return after the NBA All-Star break. The team will resume play on February 20, which means a comeback is possible within one year of his injury.