Mavs' oft-injured Anthony Davis to miss time with ligament damage in hand

Anthony Davis has ligament damage in his left hand, and the Dallas Mavericks' oft-injured big man is seeking multiple opinions on treatment options, the team said Friday without offering a time frame on a possible return.

Davis was injured late in a 116-114 loss at the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. The 10-time All-Star was in obvious pain on the bench before going to the locker room. The team said an MRI revealed the damage.

The possibility of a lengthy absence from the latest injury for Davis is a significant development for the Mavericks as they try to figure out how to move on from the trade for Davis that sent young superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers 11 months ago.

General manager Nico Harrison, the orchestrator of the deal, was fired in November after Dallas got off to a slow start. The Mavericks are 10 games under .500 and out of the playoff picture less than two years after playing in the NBA Finals.

There has been speculation about Davis getting traded again, but most of that has been predicated on him being healthy. The hand injury could sideline him until after the Feb. 5 trade deadline. Davis is averaging 20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.

The 32-year-old Davis missed 18 of the Mavericks' first 38 games this season with calf and groin injuries. He was nursing an abdominal injury when the Mavericks traded for him last February, and he re-aggravated it in his Dallas debut. Davis was sidelined for the next 18 games.

Another injury to Davis also could affect the franchise's decision on when Kyrie Irving returns from last season's knee injury. It's possible the nine-time All-Star guard won't play at all in 2025-26. Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3 last year.

No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg has shown plenty of promise as a rookie, but the Mavs have little hope of moving up in the standings without Davis and Irving. Dallas controls its first-round pick in this year's draft but not the next four drafts. The Mavericks have the Lakers' first-rounder in 2029 from the Doncic deal.

The last time Dallas was focused on the draft at this point in a season, the club was on the verge of getting Doncic in 2018. The Mavericks had the fifth overall pick and made a trade with Atlanta, which selected Doncic at No. 3 while Dallas picked Trae Young for the Hawks. Young was traded to Washington this week.

Despite the trade of Doncic to the Lakers and the lengthy injury absences for Davis and Irving last season, Dallas made the play-in tournament and beat Sacramento before losing to Memphis for the No. 8 seed in the playoffs. Missing the postseason bumped the Mavericks to the draft lottery, which they won despite having just a 1.8% chance.

This story has been corrected to show the Mavericks have played 38 games this season, not 31.

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Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) drives to the basket while guarded by Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, center, lays the ball to the basket as Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis, left, is injured on the play during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry personal weapons onto military installations, citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.

In a video posted to X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo that will direct base commanders to allow requests for troops to carry privately owned firearms “with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.”

He said any denial of a service member's request must be explained in detail and in writing.

“Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,” Hegseth said. “Unless you're training or unless you are a military policeman, you couldn't carry, you couldn't bring your own firearm for your own personal protection onto post.”

Questions about why service members lacked access to weapons have often emerged following shootings on the nation's military bases. Such shootings have ranged from isolated events between service members to mass casualty events, such as the shootings by an Army psychiatrist at Texas’ Ford Hood in 2009 that left 13 people dead.

Hegseth cited some of the events in his video, including a shooting that injured five soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia last year. Officials said the shooter, an Army sergeant who worked at the base, used his personal handgun before he was tackled by fellow soldiers and arrested.

“In these instances, minutes are a lifetime,” Hegseth said. “And our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count.”

Defense Department policy has prohibited military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, with strict protocol for how the firearms must be stored.

Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, then check all firearms back in promptly after their sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition.

Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady gun violence prevention organization, said in a statement that Defense Department leaders and the military’s top brass have opposed relaxing the current policy, which was originally enacted under President George H.W. Bush.

Schardt noted that most active duty service members who die by suicide do so with a weapon they own personally, not one military-issued, and argued that there will “undoubtedly be an increase in gun suicide and other gun violence.”

While fewer American service members died by suicide in 2024, the suicide rates among active duty troops overall still have gradually increased between 2011 and 2024, according to a Pentagon report released Tuesday.

“Our military installations are among the most guarded, protected properties in the world, and they’ve never been ‘gun-free zones,’” Schardt said. “If there is a problem with violent crime on these installations, then the Secretary of Defense has an obligation to alert the American people and describe how he’s working to prevent that crime.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)