Luka Doncic looked "fine" and was "smiling" but the Dallas Mavericks require more information on the ankle injury that saw him leave early in the 99-95 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Superstar Doncic lasted just three minutes of Thursday's road game due to a sprained left ankle, doing the damage when standing on a defender's foot and pivoting.
He immediately limped off with director of player health and performance Casey Smith, and later went for an X-ray that was negative.
Head coach Jason Kidd provided a brief update on Doncic after the game, though details of the severity of his injury remained light, saying they will know more ahead of Saturday's contest with the Utah Jazz.
"He was in good spirits. He looked good. He looked fine," Kidd said in quotes reported by the Dallas Morning News.
"But we'll see as we go forward here. We'll have probably more information once we get to Utah.
"He was smiling and he was happy for his team-mates, saying DP [Dwight Powell] made some big free throws but then to come up with that missed free throw rebound.
"Just his grit tonight for DP was at a high level. The character of that team played hard and found a way to win.
"It was the whole group defensively. To hold a team like Phoenix under 100 points is a big deal. The guys in that locker room should be proud."
Without Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie contributed a season-high 36 points, while Dorian Finney-Smith had 18 to go with 12 rebounds.
"It's just an all-around great team effort. Once we found out [Luka] was out, we just stepped up," Finney-Smith said.
The Mavericks (26-24) had lost six straight regular-season games to the Suns prior to the win, though they did topple them in last year's Conference semifinals.
The Brooklyn Nets are having their 'next man up' mentality pushed to the limit after Ben Simmons and T.J. Warren both left Thursday's 130-122 loss against the Detroit Pistons with knee injuries.
Brooklyn are already without MVP candidate Kevin Durant as he recovers from an MCL sprain in his right knee, while bench spark plug Seth Curry also missed Thursday's game with soreness in his right knee.
Their injury situation went from bad to worse against the Pistons as Simmons exited the game in the third quarter and did not return due to left knee soreness, before Warren suffered a left knee contusion and was taken out in the fourth quarter.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said after the game that he is unsure whether one or both would undergo MRI scans on Friday, and while both injuries appear minor, it is unknown if they will be able to suit up for Saturday's rivalry game against the New York Knicks.
Despite the loss, it was an impressive day for Kyrie Irving, who was named an All-Star starter before dropping a game-high 40 points (14-of-27 shooting) with six assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Speaking to the media after his performance, Irving said he would do all he can to keep the Nets afloat, but lamented the uncertainty the team faces in their next stretch after losing six of their past eight fixtures.
"I can't control everyone's emotions day-to-day, as much as I see myself as one of the leaders of our team," he said.
"But what I can show is just a consistency to continue to work on off-days, and after the games, and before the games, and just continue to prepare at a very high level.
"Whoever's available for us to play will be available and we just move onto the next game. As much as I would love to sit up here and give you guys a nice diatribe of what it looks like in the future, I just don't know.
"T.J. being out, Ben being out, so we just got to take it one day at a time, and we just want those guys to get healthy – that's the most important thing. We just got to carry our own water right now. Chop wood, carry water."
Despite their recent rough patch, the Nets still sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 29-19 thanks to a 12-game winning streak before Durant's injury.
The Dallas Mavericks will be hoping to get away with a minor injury after franchise centrepiece Luka Doncic sprained his ankle and departed Thursday's game in the first quarter.
The incident occurred just three minutes into the Mavericks' road game against the Phoenix Suns as Doncic accidentally stepped on a defender's foot, turning his ankle.
Dallas immediately called a timeout and Doncic was helped back to the locker room, before being ruled out at quarter-time.
The Mavericks announced their initial X-rays were negative, indicating there are no broken bones, but they will need an MRI to determine how much damage has been done.
Doncic has suited up for 45 of the Mavericks' 50 games up until this point, and he entered play leading the league in scoring with 33.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists per contest.
His zero points against the Suns could see him fall behind Joel Embiid (33.4 points per game) in the race for the scoring title, but Doncic has already collected one major honour this season after it was announced early on Thursday that he will be an All-Star for the fourth consecutive year, and a starter for the third time.
The New York Knicks rode terrific performances from the dynamic duo of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson to a 120-117 overtime victory on the road against the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
Randle, who is on track to make his second All-Star team, scored a game-high 37 points on 13-of-25 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds. His partner-in-crime, Brunson, led both teams with seven assists to go with 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting.
For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum had a team-high 35 points on 12-of-26 shooting, including the game-tying basket with 48 seconds remaining to force overtime at 110-110.
Randle and team-mate R.J. Barrett scored five points each in the extra session to pull away for the win, improving to 27-23 overall, which includes the league's second-best road record (15-10). The only team with a better record away from home this season is the Celtics (17-9).
In his fifth start of the season, second-year Knicks center Jericho Sims grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds as he continues to fill-in for the injured Mitchell Robinson, while Immanuel Quickley chipped in 17 points (seven-of-12 shooting) off the bench.
Pistons ruin Kyrie's big night
Kyrie Irving's 40 points were not enough to prevent his Brooklyn Nets from going down 130-122 at home against the Detroit Pistons.
After being named an All-Star starter earlier in the day, Irving shot 14-of-27 from the field while adding six assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
But the Pistons had eight of their nine players reach double-figures in a well-rounded display, led by Saddiq Bey with a team-high 25 points (10-of-19 shooting), while highly rated rookie point guard Jaden Ivey had a game-high eight assists with his 16 points and two steals.
The Nets have now lost six of their past eight fixtures to slip to 29-19 as they desperately await the return of Kevin Durant from injury.
Cavs pile on the punishment
The Houston Rockets were relegated to their 20th loss from their past 22 outings as the Cleveland Cavaliers came into town and left 113-95 victors.
Darius Garland scored a game-high 26 points (nine-of-16 shooting) with nine assists and four steals to lead the Cavs, while their star defensive duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley both collected double-doubles.
On the bright side for the Rockets – who own the NBA's worst record at 11-38 – it was the ninth game in a row exciting young center Alperen Sengun has tallied at least six assists. Over that span, the only centers averaging more than his 6.8 assists are Draymond Green (7.0), Domantas Sabonis (10.0) and Nikola Jokic (11.2).
LeBron James is set to tie the record for the most All-Star Game appearances in NBA history after being announced as one of the two team captains on Thursday.
James, who will match Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he suits up for his 19th All-Star Game in Salt Lake City next month, will be joined by Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo as the captains.
In a league-first, the captains will draft their reserves live in the lead-up to tip-off, as opposed to previous years when the draft was conducted via a pre-recorded segment and aired weeks before the game.
While most of the expected names were announced as starters – including reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic and Golden State Warriors icon Stephen Curry – there were also some surprises.
The two head-scratchers were New Orleans Pelicans franchise player Zion Williamson and controversial Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving.
Williamson is averaging the highest points per game figure (26.0) for any player shooting at least 60 per cent from the field this season, but has only played in 29 of the Pelicans' 49 games so far. He is also scheduled to miss at least two more weeks, meaning he will have only played in roughly half of the possible games by the time All-Star Weekend arrives.
Meanwhile, Irving has a stronger case as he averages 26.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists, but his addition as a starter in the East means relegating reigning scoring champion and back-to-back MVP runner-up Joel Embiid to the bench.
After James' 19th appearance, the next-most among the starters belongs to Kevin Durant, who has missed some time with injury in his own right but was playing at an MVP level prior to earn his 13th All-Star nod. Curry will play in his ninth edition, while Irving now has eight and Antetokounmpo has made seven consecutive.
The full list of starters includes:
Western Conference
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
Eastern Conference
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets
Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Joel Embiid found the experience of facing Ben Simmons for the first time no different to any other night as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets in a thriller.
Embiid came up against his former team-mate Simmons for the first time at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday and the 76ers came out on top, winning 137-133.
Simmons was traded to the Nets almost a year ago in a deal that saw James Harden make the move to Philadelphia.
Three-time All-Star point guard Simmons scored 12 points, claimed five rebounds and provided five assists as the Nets slipped to 29-18.
Embiid finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds for a 76ers side that have won six games in a row and sit second in the Eastern Conference at 31-16 behind the Boston Celtics (35-14).
Asked how it felt doing battle with Simmons for the first time, he replied: "Nothing. Just like every single night, [I am trying to] just freaking kill whoever is in front of me.
"My mentality is always about scoring. If I get doubled, make the right pass, but if I get played one-on-one, or I see an opportunity to go score, I'm going to go score."
Doc Rivers, the 76ers head coach, said: "The first play, Ben is guarding Joel and it was like it was a party.
"It was hilarious. That's when I turned to our coaches and said, 'This is a boxing crowd tonight. They want to see them drop the basketball, turn and duke it out. And [Simmons and Embiid] went at each other, which is fun and good."
Despite another win, Rivers felt his players could have handled the occasion better.
He added: "I thought the team overall did. We got caught up in all the c*** going on tonight.
"There was a lot of chippiness, and that's good, but play above it, stay above it. Keep playing. I didn't think we did that."
Anthony Davis felt great on his return from a foot injury but concedes it was a "long five-and-a-half weeks" on the sidelines.
The All-Star returned for the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since December 17 as they won 113-104 over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Davis, who had been sidelined with a fractured bone spur and stress reaction in his right foot, played 26 minutes off the bench in his return, scoring 21 points with 12 rebounds and four blocks.
The center had been in near career-best form prior to the injury, averaging 27.4 points per game as well as a career-high 12.1 rebounds, with his successful return a major boost for the Lakers who improved to 23-26 with Wednesday's win.
"I felt great. I felt good out on the floor," Davis told Spectrum Sportsnet after the game. "The foot feels fine. It was good to be out there with the guys battling. It was good because it was a close game. We really had to battle until the last four, five minutes, it was a good test for me going into this road trip.
"Overall, I'm happy to be back on the court with these guys. It's been a long five-and-a-half weeks, so it feels good to come back and get the win and ultimately be back out on the floor."
Davis checked into the game with 4:22 left in the first quarter, playing on a managed workload.
"Anytime you come back, that first game, that first practice whatever, you're always tender," Davis said. "You want to test it out, see how it feels in live action, in a real game where it matters.
"That's the ultimate test and for that first 30 seconds to a minute I wanted to see if I felt anything or if anything would flare up. When I didn’t feel anything, my mind was like, 'it's time to go'."
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham reassured that they were confident Davis has fully recovered from the issue, having endured numerous injuries in recent seasons.
"He's gone through some rigorous therapy, weight training, weight-bearing exercises, activity on the court - both individually and some group workouts," Ham told reporters prior to the game.
"We would save him from himself if we thought there was any type of threat or harm that he could do to himself.
"He had these boxes that he had to check, and he's checked all of them, so we feel comfortable with him appearing tonight."
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