After making moves to acquire O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison, Elton Brand and Chris Kaman over the summer, the Dallas Mavericks had high hopes of being able to contend with the revamped Los Angeles Lakers and defending Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder this season.
Unfortunately, things have already gotten off to a rocky start for the new-look Mavs with superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki set to sit out at least the next six weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee on Friday according to ESPN’s Marc Stein via Twitter:
Mavs announce Dirk Nowitzki had arthroscopic surgery Friday on right knee & will resume basketball activity “within approximately six weeks”
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) October 19, 2012
With Jason Terry signing with the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks signing Jason Kidd, the Mavs will go through an adjustment period over the first few months of the season there’s no telling how well this team filled with veterans will come together this year.
There’s no question the Mavs have potential to be a playoff team once again and could continue to be a force in the West, but without Nowitzki on the floor for the first month of the season Dallas may end up coming from behind all year long.
—- Wear your Lakers pride wherever you are with Lakers Nation gear! —-
Dallas is set to get the 2012-13 season underway against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 30. The outlook for this game looks much different now without Nowitzki leading the way for Dallas as the Mavs will almost certainly struggle to keep up with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.
As Stein suggests in his tweet, Nowitzki will only begin basketball activity after six weeks. This could mean the one-time NBA champion might be out considerably more time in order to get back in game shape. Needless to say, nothing but bad news for the Mavs with a nightmare season possibly on the horizon.
______________________________________________________________________________
In case you missed it: Kobe talks A-Rod, growing up in a family of “a-holes.”
______________________________________________________________________________
[jwplayer config=”lakersnation_player” file=”http://youtu.be/Tho5CABW5rk” autostart=”false”]
