Camping day 2: Frank Vogel joins the coaching staff, Luka’s calf injury & more from Vegas

A busy news day out of the Desert Mavericks

The Mavericks have reached day 2 of their 4-day trip to the desert of Las Vegas. After the joy of media day and the first practice of the season, Mavs fans were hoping for more of the same on Wednesday. Here’s some of the highlights from day 2 in Las Vegas.

Frank Vogel joins coaching staff as a consultant

After the morning session on Wednesday, Jason Kidd announced that Frank Vogel has officially joined the Mavericks’ coaching staff as a consultant. As mentioned in our day 1 takeaways, Kidd and Vogel have a history working together, including the Los Angeles Lakers title season in the bubble. This was the second time in three seasons that Vogel had spent time at Mavs camp, the other being the 2022 camp while Vogel was between the Lakers and Suns jobs. Now, he’ll be around in an official capacity, rather than as a guest.

Vogel is a respected coach who has the reputation as a defense-oriented coach. To that point, the Suns finished top 15 in defensive efficiency last year with a roster full of guys who aren’t exactly noted as good defensive players. It isn’t clear how active Vogel will be in this role, but adding more head coaching experience to the coaching staff is never a bad thing. Good on Jason Kidd and the Mavs for getting him onboard.

Luka’s calf

Mavs fans were treated to some injury news, thanks to this beauty from Mavs PR.

Of course, this isn’t the ideal way to start training camp. However, as noted in our story, sidelining Luka for a week seems precautionary. Doncic has shown us in the past that he is willing and able to play through ailments much more serious than a muscle contusion. But at the same time, the fact that we have to add yet another injury to his ledger isn’t ideal, either. As Noah Weber of the Smoking Cuban pointed out, this is the 3rd left calf injury that Doncic has sustained in a little over 2 years. Until proven otherwise, I’ll choose not to worry about Luka’s injury. I just hope he is able to get some treatment on that calf during his newfound free time.

Other camp notes

• Maxi Kleber and Kessler Edwards both missed Wednesday’s practice with a sprained ankle. Per Jason Kidd, they both are “a little ways away” from being back on the floor.
• Dereck Lively has been receiving rave reviews through the first 2 days in Vegas. Jason Kidd noted that his post-up game and shooting have both looked great in the early going. His continued growth is going to be fun to watch throughout the season.
• Kidd also said that Daniel Gafford will get reps with the starting group during Wednesday night’s practice session. Gafford is no stranger to the role, but with the addition of Klay Thompson to that group, Kidd and the coaching staff want to see how it looks.

• The Mavericks will not practice on Wednesday, instead opting for team building activities. Many players noted how last season’s preseason trip to Abu Dhabi and Madrid helped build camaraderie with the group. The culture of the team last year was a big part of their success, so it makes sense for them to try and start building that early and often this season.
• The Mavericks will resume practice on Thursday in Las Vegas, before heading back to Dallas to prepare for Fan Jam and the preseason games. Fan Jam is Sunday, October 6, and the Mavericks first preseason game is at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, October 7th.

We’ll have more on training camp, as well as our continuing season preview coverage, right here at Mavs Moneyball.