Mavericks Rookie Sergio de Larrea Sidelined for a Week With Knee Injury

The Dallas Mavericks are going to have to navigate the next stretch of their schedule without their newest Spanish import. Underdog NBA reported that rookie guard Sergio de Larrea will miss at least one week with a knee injury.

If you are wondering why a 20-year-old rookie is already getting banged up, just look at the tale of the tape. De Larrea is listed at 6-foot-6 and 174 pounds. He is built like a very tall marathon runner trying to survive in a basketball league entirely populated by runaway freight trains.

"Underdog NBA reported: 'May: Sergio de Larrea (knee) to miss at least 1 week.'"

The Valladolid native suffered a right knee sprain during the second quarter of Monday's game against the Miami Heat. He immediately went to the locker room and did not return, leaving the Mavericks scrambling to fill the void in their backcourt.

Dallas originally brought him in to form a Spanish connection with Santi Aldama. While the raw skill is obviously there, the physical adaptation to the NBA is a completely different beast that usually requires a few extra trips to the weight room.

From a market perspective, losing a backup rookie guard is not going to crash the Mavericks spread the way a star injury would. But it absolutely scrambles the live rotation and opens up immediate value for anyone paying attention to player props.

Minutes have to go somewhere, which means secondary guards are suddenly going to see a massive spike in usage. We already saw a glimpse of this on Monday when Clayton came alive for 15 points after De Larrea exited the floor.

For now, De Larrea is on ice for at least seven days. Dallas will have to dig deeper into their bench to survive the week, while their rookie hopefully uses the mandatory recovery period to add a few pounds of armor.