DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki came out of the locker room wearing a blue practice jersey and gray sweat pants, then headed downstairs to the Dallas Mavericks practice court. He slapped hands with Jason Kidd’s son and joked with a few other folks nearby.

His light mood changed once he reached the crowd waiting for him.

Nowitzki met with reporters for about 10 minutes Monday to discuss the leg injury he sustained the previous day. He said he feels fortunate it’s only a moderate high-ankle sprain and a mildly sprained knee and he hopes to be back in a week or two.

But he also realizes it could be longer and the Mavericks might miss the playoffs without him.

“This is probably the most painful time to miss games,” Nowitzki said. “That’s very discouraging.”

The medical staff can’t even set a rehabilitation plan for the reigning MVP until the swelling is gone, which will give them a better feel for the damage.

“We’ll take it day-by-day, trust our trainers, trust our doctors, then go from there,” Nowitzki said. “Hopefully I can move where I can already go on the underwater treadmill a little bit in the next couple of days so at least I can put some pressure on it and see how it feels.”

Walsh leaving Pacers after season

INDIANAPOLIS – Donnie Walsh’s career with the Indiana Pacers will end after this season, giving the operation of the troubled franchise a single voice under Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

The team’s CEO and president since 1988, Walsh said Monday he would step aside after this season, his 24th year with the Pacers.

He would not comment on his future, including media reports that he already has been talking with the New York Knicks about taking over as their president.

“As far as what I’m going to do, I’m not sure,” the 67-year-old Walsh said at a news conference. “As a result, I’m not going to comment on it until I have a better idea.”

Walsh, who joined the Pacers as an assistant coach in 1984, became general manager in 1986 and president two years later. He hired Bird as coach in 1997, and after Bird moved into the front office three years later, Walsh groomed him as his eventual successor.

As president of basketball operations, Bird has shared many of the day-to-day operations with Walsh in recent years, a division of authority that has often led to confusion in dealing with other teams, Walsh said.

“My real reason is, I think I’ve been here too long,” he said. “It’s not healthy for the franchise.

“I started thinking that the last two or three years. But you also want to see things get better,” he said.

The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals six times and won the Central Division four times under Walsh. They made the NBA finals in 2000, when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, and had the league’s best record in 2004 before the franchise began unraveling.