The Dallas Mavericks made franchise history in their 130-84 demolition of the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday but the victory came at a cost as Delon Wright suffered an injury.
Wright: Groin strain, unlikely to play tomorrow, Carlisle said.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) December 7, 2019
In spite of the unfortunate development, Rick Carlisle offered a silver lining on his point guard’s status.
Good grief. Meanwhile, Carlisle says “not believed to be serious.” Didn’t rule out Wright playing in Thursday’s Mexico City game against Detroit. https://t.co/UOK6v1US3k
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) December 7, 2019
Wright played only three minutes against the Pelicans, producing nothing on the boxscore, before being yanked out. It’s been an underwhelming campaign for the former Utah Utes who got signed to a three-year $29 million deal in the offseason by Dallas.
Flashes of Wright’s upside was evident in his short run with the Memphis Grizzlies last season, churning all-around numbers of 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game and in a contract year. In Dallas, he’s been relegated to a backup role behind Luka Doncic, who’s having an MVP-type of a season thus far.
Wright is a career 33 percent shooter from downtown but such accuracy seems to be insufficient if he were to enjoy a regular dose of big minutes for head coach Rick Carlisle. The Mavs are building their team around Doncic and the Slovenian’s style of play prompts shooters around him all the time to maximize his playmaking.
To be fair, Wright has been durable since the 2018-19 season. The surging Mavs are carrying the Western Conference’s second-best record, as of writing, at 16-6.