Jett Howard was moved from out to cleared on the official injury report Saturday night. The Mavericks guard comes off the report about 20 minutes before they host the Spurs.
What happened
The Mavericks cleared guard Jett Howard on the injury report at 7:38 PM ET on Saturday, Oct. 24. His previous status was out. The report gave no detail and no comment with the change. Earlier this week he was listed with a right calf issue, and his status moved between out and day-to-day on Oct. 21, Oct. 23 and again on Saturday. The last of those entries had him out before the move to cleared. No return date was part of the update because he is no longer listed. The report does not say whether he will be on the floor Saturday.
What it means for the Mavericks
Dallas hosts the Spurs at 8:00 PM ET Saturday. The Mavericks are 1-1, ninth in the standings, and have won their last game. Howard has not played for them yet this season, so they are 0-0 with him and 1-1 without him. Last season he played in 55 games at 12.6 minutes, with 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Without him, the minutes have gone mostly to Max Christie (33.2), P.J. Washington (31.9) and Naji Marshall (31.0). Zaccharie Risacher (29.4) and Marcus Sasser (25.3) have also been heavily used. Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg, two of Dallas's top scorers in those games, are both listed as out.
What to watch
The first thing to watch is whether Howard is active against the Spurs, since the clearance came shortly before tip-off. His minutes will show how much the team trusts the calf. Dallas still has six players listed as out: Irving, Caleb Martin, Tarik Biberovic, Dereck Lively II, Flagg and Santi Aldama. Their status updates will decide how much rotation work falls to Howard. The next injury report is not announced, and no timeline for any of those returns has been given.
Is Jett Howard playing vs Spurs?
He was cleared on the injury report at 7:38 PM ET Saturday and is no longer listed as out. The Mavericks host the Spurs at 8:00 PM ET. His minutes are not announced.
When will Jett Howard be back?
He has been cleared, so no return date applies. The injury report listed his expected return as not announced. The earlier issue was a right calf.