Luka Doncic left Wednesday’s Christmas game against the Minnesota Timberwolves a few minutes before the end of the first half. He tried to take a step back and immediately felt something in his calf as he passed the ball before limping straight to the locker room after a timeout.

ESPN’s Shams Charania believes Doncic could be out for a while, which could put him out of the running for postseason honors.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ comeback bid to Timberwolves on Christmas falls close, losing 105-99

“The Dallas Mavericks expect star Luka Doncic to be out for an extended period of time with a calf strain, sources tell me and (Tim McMahon). Doncic left the arena in Dallas today on crutches. He is expected to undergo an MRI scan “Thursday,” Charania posted on Twitter/X late Wednesday evening.

Doncic has already missed eight games this season due to a variety of injuries, including a calf contusion in the preseason, a knee contusion that forced him to miss a game, a groin strain that did not cause him to miss a game, and a wrist sprain forced him to miss five games, and a bruised heel forced him to miss two games against the LA Clippers last week.

With the new structure of NBA postseason awards, such as For example, for all NBA teams or MVP, players must have played at least 65 games to be eligible. That means Doncic can only miss nine more games to remain eligible. Depending on how long he’s out, Doncic’s streak of consecutive first-team All-NBA titles could be over.

Doncic entered the season as the favorite to win MVP and started the season averaging 28.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 8.1 APG. Since returning from the wrist strain, he has been playing his best basketball of the season.

READ MORE: Klay Thompson makes NBA history with Mavericks-Timberwolves on Christmas

Stick with it Mavericks game day for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey continued Twitter