MINNEAPOLIS — The Dallas Mavericks will rest Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II for Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Mavericks’ top two centers were ruled out for Dallas’ second game in as many days because of injury management for their respective ailments.
Gafford is unavailable while he nurses a right ankle he reaggravated during overtime of Sunday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Mavericks big man has started at center for the last nine games while playing through soreness in his ankle. He initially suffered a right ankle sprain on Sept. 30 during the first practice of training camp in Vancouver.
Gafford scored a season-high 20 points with six rebounds in Sunday’s overtime win over the Trail Blazers, which snapped a three-game losing streak. He described his ankle as “not the best” when asked how it felt after the game.
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“I’m an Arkansas boy,” Gafford said. “We just gonna put this in mud and get back to it the next day.”
Lively will miss the game, too, as a precaution for his right knee sprain, which held him out of nine games. He returned to the lineup in Friday’s double-overtime loss to the LA Clippers, but struggled with foul trouble on Sunday night against the Blazers.
Two-way center Moussa Cisse is expected to see an expanded role with Gafford and Lively’s absences, along with veteran big man Dwight Powell. Cisse has appeared in the Mavericks’ last eight games, averaging 5.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 12.9 minutes during that stretch.
Monday marks the first of four regular season matchups against the Timberwolves, who are headlined by a frontcourt that features Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
The Mavericks are already shorthanded in their frontcourt because of the loss of Anthony Davis, who will miss his 10th consecutive game with a left calf strain. He was given an updated timeline of 7-10 days on Sunday, which places a possible return between next Monday in Miami or Nov. 28 against his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
If Gafford and Lively’s absences are merely for precaution, then it’s possible they could return for Wednesday’s nationally televised showdown at home against the New York Knicks.
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