The Dallas Mavericks will be without center Nerlens Noel for “several weeks” slated to undergo surgery on his left thumb to repair a torn ligament, according to Bobby Karalla of Mavs.com. Noel will head to Cleveland to have his procedure done after being listed as questionable in previous pre-game reports and was told it could take from four-to-six weeks to heal, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com

“He'll be out for several weeks,” Carlisle said. “I don't know how long.”

Noel chose to have the surgery after the Mavs talked to him and his agent about getting it checked out, as the injury has nagged him since the fourth or fifth game of this season.

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Carlisle touched on Noel's professionalism through the limited minutes he's played this season and the recent hot dog incident that happened during half time of a Sunday night game against the L.A. Clippers.

“He's been very professional with the exception of the hot dog incident the other night, which we all had fun with,” said Carlisle, according to Jay King of MassLive. That's over with now. And he realized that was a mistake.”

This absence won't do wonders for Noel, who is in a pivotal contract year and didn't garner very much interest this past offseason. His lack of playing time and a reputation of poor work ethic under Carlisle would only compound this problem, especially while seeking to get a lot more money than his stock would indicate.