Dallas Mavericks star big man Kristaps Porzingis was a late scratch on Wednesday night, as the Mavs opted to pull him out moments before tip-off of their matchup against the Sacramento Kings.
As it turns out, the Mavs medical staff was not happy with what they saw from Porzingis during warm-ups, which prompted them to prevent the 24-year-old from taking the floor against the Kings. Porzingis himself admitted later on that this was actually his own decision.
“Just a little bit of a pain on certain movement,” Porzingis said, via Dwain Price of Mavs.com. “I didn’t feel that good out there. I told the medical staff.”
Kristaps Porzingis has been dealing with a right knee problem, and has been unable to shake it off for a good couple of weeks now. The last time we saw him in action was on December 29 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Just hours before Wednesday night's game, Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle already announced that Porzingis was going to make his return, but it just wasn't going to be the case in the evening.
Porzingis then went on to say that while it has been frustrating, he completely understands and agrees with the team's extremely cautious approach with regards to his health.
“Obviously they’ve been really cautious with everything and they made the decision for me to take some more time (off),” he added. “I was so hyped today, and yesterday I wanted to play so bad, I was ready to go, but it is what it is. These things happen and we’ve got to think of the long-term and I’ll be fine.”
The Mavs managed to take the win against the Kings even without Porzingis, as they ended the tightly-contested matchup with a 127-123 victory. KP's next chance to suit up will be on Thursday when Dallas takes on the Portland Trail Blazers.
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