Mavericks’ Chandler Parsons day-to-day with swollen right knee

Dallas Mavericks small forward Chandler Parsons missed Saturday’s home game against the Golden State Warriors because of swelling in his right knee.

Coach Rick Carlisle said the four-year veteran was originally injured in last Sunday’s loss at the Indiana Pacers. The Mavs are listing Parsons as day-to-day and don’t believe his injury is anything to worry about on a long-term basis.

“We believe that it’s something that can get resolved, but that’s all I can tell you right now,” Carlisle said. “He drove in [against the Pacers] and he hit the ground, and that’s where the injury was sustained.

“It happened in the first half of that game, and it’s just been something that’s been bothering him some. And then it got worse [Thursday] against Houston. He’ll be listed as day-to-day and we’ll see how he does symptom-wise.”

Despite sustaining the injury against the Pacers, Parsons played 37 minutes and finished with 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting during Wednesday’s 135-131 win at the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he left Thursday’s game against the Rockets with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter when his knee started to swell.

“It was bothering him some [Wednesday] and it got worse,” Carlisle said. “He felt it during the Oklahoma City game, but he was able to play.

“And on the back-to-back, he felt it more [Thursday] morning, but he wanted to try to give it a shot. After that one rotation in the second half, it just became clear we just needed to get him out of there.”

Without Parsons and his 15.7 points per game, the Mavs’ offense now faces added stress. Richard Jefferson, who started Saturday’s game, averages just 5.4 points per game.

Backup small forward Al-Farouq Aminu injects a lot of energy defensively and on the boards, but he also only averages 5.4 points per game.

The Mavs may have Parsons available for their next game. They don’t play again until Wednesday at home against the Phoenix Suns.

“So there is a period of time for him to heal and get better,” Carlisle said. “And we’ll see what’s what as time goes along here. It’s not ideal having one of your better players missing games at this point — that goes without saying.”

With just five regular-season games remaining, the primary concern is to make sure Parsons is healthy for the playoffs.

“We concern ourselves with both the short- and long-term health of all of our guys,” Carlisle said. “You can’t mess around or take chances with this.

“So right now, we’ve got to get this taken care of, he’s got to get it taken care of. Again, we’ll do treatment and monitor it on a day-to-day basis and kind of let you know where we are.”

In addition to the offensive production that Parsons provides, Carlisle also noted that they will miss his rebounding and the added length he supplies on defense with his 6-foot-10 frame.

“He makes plays for us and he’s one of our good shooters, so it’s a pretty big loss,” Carlisle said. “He’s been getting better and better as the season has gone along.

“It’s poor timing on a lot of fronts. His game was just starting to kind of move up to that quality level, so this is a hiccup, but hopefully it won’t be too long.”

Gentry on his MVP

Golden State assistant coach Alvin Gentry has a good explanation why he believes that Warriors guard Stephen Curry should win this year’s Most Valuable Player award.

“We’ve got the best player on the best team that has done an amazing job and that’s taken a team that last year was great — won 51 games — to the point where we’re going to be in the mid-60s, as far as wins,” Gentry said. “So to me, I thought the MVP was the best player on the best team.

“If that’s not the case, then if we’re simply picking the best player as MVP, then we should just put LeBron James’ name on the trophy and give it to him every year.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2015 at 9:59 PM with the headline "Mavericks’ Chandler Parsons day-to-day with swollen right knee."