Mavs Downgrade Santi Aldama Vs. Spurs As Knee Recovery Nears End

The Dallas Mavericks momentarily thought they would acquire additional frontcourt depth Wednesday night for the matchup with Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Mavs, who are beginning a stretch of three games in five days, initially made an upgrade from "doubtful" to "questionable" on Tuesday evening for stretch big Santi Aldama, who has yet to make his Mavericks debut.

We're now hearing pregame that Aldama has been downshifted back to "doubtful" for the matchup with San Antonio.

The 7-footer has been working his way back from the knee operation that cut last season short while he was a member of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Coming off a loss to the previously winless Sacramento Kings, Dallas will, however, bring back point guard Kyrie Irving, who was last out of the lineup to manage his return from ACL surgery.

Aldama's ramp-up began with a short practice stint with the G-League affiliate Texas Legends. He was recalled up to the Mavericks last week.

Mavs coach Dusty May last week said Aldama is getting "much, much closer," to returning to the floor, which would have been a significant boost against 7-4 Wembanyama, who leads the NBA in blocks per game (4.0), is fifth in rebounding (10.7) and tenth in scoring (25.7) per game.

Aldama was acquired this offseason as part of a six-team trade that saw the Mavs give up guard AJ Johnson, a first-round pick in 2030, and two future second-round picks. The Spaniard is coming off a season in which he averaged career bests in scoring (14.0 PPG), rebounding (6.7 RPG) and assisting (2.9 APG). He started 11 of the 43 games he played in last season, averaging a career-high 27.9 minutes a night.

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In the loss to Sacramento, the Mavs were limited offensively. Dallas shot just 41 percent from the field and was 7-of-33 (21 percent) from 3-point range.

In addition to his size against Wembanyama, Aldama, with his career 35 percent 3-point clip, could have brought floor spacing for a Mavs' offense that returns its top facilitator.

That presence on the outside will not mitigate the absence of shooting guard Max Christie, a career 38 percent perimeter shooter, who sustained an injury to his right hip in the second quarter against the Kings.

Dallas has also designated rookies Sergio de Larrea (knee) and Tarik Biberovic (heel) as "out" in addition to Christie. The 23-year-old was 0-for-5 from the 3-point arc last time out and is shooting 27 percent from the outside this season.

In his place, Dallas has gotten bench production from second-year guard Walter Clayton Jr., who led the Mavs in scoring with 20 points on Monday.

"I’m willing to adapt to kind of whatever the team needs me to be on whatever night it is," Clayton said on how he can impact the team. "Whether that’s with the ball in my hands or without the ball in my hands. I’m just trying to be a team player."

Cooper Flagg, who last started in place of Irving at point guard, shot just 3-of-19 from the field.

"I know he’s going to bounce back," center Daniel Gafford said of the teenager. "Whenever it comes to the conversations throughout the locker room, I always say our response is going to dictate how we feel the next day or the next game. I try to speak life into people. Whenever I see the head down, one of the main things is [Flagg] said I’m sorry for how I played. It’s not on him.

"This is a team game night-in and night-out. If one person has a bad game or two people have a bad game, it’s still on the team, because we play defense at the end of the day, too."

Dallas tips off against San Antonio at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.