Luka Doncic says he's 'ready to play' after missing 7 games with ankle sprain

Luka Doncic has missed the Dallas Mavericks’ last seven games to recover from the right ankle sprain he suffered at practice in late January. While all signs seem to point to the All-Star guard returning tonight vs. Sacramento (8:30 ET, League Pass), nothing is official yet.

The NBA’s latest official injury report has Doncic listed as questionable against the Kings, which is Dallas’ last game before the All-Star break. Doncic told reporters on Tuesday he is more or less planning to suit up.

Luka Doncic still officially listed as questionable for tonight, per the 12:30 injury report. All signs point to him playing, but as we've learned in the case of Porzingis, never say "for sure" in these situations.

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 12, 2020

“Tomorrow, I’m ready to play,” Doncic said, per Mavs.com. “I’m just excited to be back out there and playing again.”

The Mavs went 3-4 without Doncic during this seven-game stretch and were 2-2 in December when he was out with a similar right ankle injury. Doncic, 20, is having one of the best seasons all-time for a player his age, firmly entrenching himself in the Kia MVP conversation with averages of 28.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists.

All-Star 2020 in Chicago is set up to be a busy weekend for Doncic: he is slated to play in the Rising Stars Game on Friday and the All-Star Game on Sunday as a member of Team LeBron. Doncic told reporters he wants to play before the All-Star break so he is ready to go for those events come this weekend.

“It’s important,” Doncic said Tuesday. “It’s not every time you’re an All-Star, you know. For the organization, for me, for a lot of people, I want to play in the game.

“Since I was a kid, I dreamed about it. Being there Sunday in that game … just being there.”

: "Yeah I hope so…I'm not going to be the one dunking, thats for sure." – @luka7doncic was all smiles as he anticipates throwing a few lobs to Lebron for this Sunday's All-Star game. #NBAAllStar

Full Interview: https://t.co/VYQ2p4ANvC pic.twitter.com/MizRbbxFxq

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) February 11, 2020

As far as worrying about the ankle injury, Doncic is trying to put that out of his mind.

“You try not to worry about it, but you’re going to worry about,” Doncic said. “It’s tough, especially the first couple games. You think about it. You don’t want to go through it again. But I try not to think about it.

“I’ve sprained my ankle before, but not like two times in a row in that little time. That never happened before.”

The Mavericks are 32-22 and No. 6 in the Western Conference, but are just two games behind the Houston Rockets for the No. 5 seed.