Mavericks dealing with yet another major injury

The bad injury news keeps coming for the Mavericks, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that second-year forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper has a significant right wrist injury and is expected to require season-ending surgery. Prosper has been diagnosed with ligament damage in that wrist, Charania adds.

The 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Prosper didn’t play major minutes in the first half of Dallas’ season, but has become a more frequent member of the rotation in recent weeks as the team’s injuries have piled up.

Since Jan. 20, Prosper has appeared in all 21 of the Mavericks’ games and made four starts. During that stretch, the 22-year-old has averaged 5.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 17.0 minutes per night, with a .410/.207/.689 shooting line. For the season, he has registered 3.9 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 0.8 APG in 11.2 MPG across 52 appearances.

Prosper is under contract for $3M next season. Dallas will have to decide by Oct. 31, 2025 whether or not to pick up his $5.26M option for the 2026-27 season.

In addition to Prosper, the Mavericks’ injury list currently includes Anthony Davis (adductor strain), Kyrie Irving (ACL tear), Daniel Gafford (knee sprain), Jaden Hardy (ankle sprain), Dereck Lively (ankle stress fracture), P.J. Washington (ankle sprain) and Kai Jones (quad strain). Many of those players have already missed several weeks or will be out for an extended period going forward — or both.

The one piece of good news in Dallas is that Caleb Martin, acquired at last month’s trade deadline, has been cleared to make his Mavs debut on Friday against Memphis, according to head coach Jason Kidd, via Christian Clark of The Athletic. Kidd said there are “no expectations” for Martin in his first game with his new team, per Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News.

“He’s going to (play) 15 minutes. The biggest expectation is to be healthy coming out of this,” Kidd said. “For his 15 minutes, we hope that it’s going to be a great experience.”

Mavericks guard Dante Exum will also be available on Friday after missing one game with a right foot contusion, Kidd confirmed.