Mavs' Maxi Kleber Out at Least 3 Weeks amid NBA Playoff Run with Shoulder Injury

The Dallas Mavericks announced on Sunday that forward Maxi Kleber suffered an AC joint separation in his shoulder and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.

Kleber was injured in the second quarter of the Mavericks' series-clinching 114-101 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. He scored four points in five minutes on 1-3 shooting before he exited the game.

Dallas will need to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs in order for Kleber to potentially return to the floor.

The loss of Kleber is a tough blow for a Mavericks team that is about to begin a second-round series against the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder. The 32-year-old is a versatile defender and would have been useful against a Thunder team that ended the regular season with the best offensive rating in the Western Conference (via NBA.com).

He's also an adept long-range shooter, connecting on 10 of his 18 three-point attempts during Dallas' first-round matchup with the Clippers.

This included a 15-point performance in Game 5 in which Kleber connected on five triples, earning praise from his teammates.

"If you look back at some of the film, he was ready to shoot," Kyrie Irving said, via Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated. "And that's what we need from all our guys, not just Maxi. But when we get that addition of scoring off the bench, and defensively we're in the right spots, then it looks good. So it was a beautiful game by him, and he was in the right spots pretty often."

Although a dislocated toe limited Kleber to just 43 appearances in the regular season, the seven-year veteran remained effective in a smaller role and made strides as a playmaker. He averaged 4.4 points and a career-high 1.6 assists in just 20.3 minutes per game, shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from behind the arc.

With Kleber out, head coach Jason Kidd may look to shorten his rotation against Oklahoma City and give an expanded role to starters such as P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.