The Dallas Mavericks center has reportedly not been cleared to participate in training camp while he recovers from a December surgery on his injured right foot, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.
As the calendar turns to fall, the Saturday start of Dallas Mavs training camp is right around the corner. The Mavericks know Kyrie Irving will be back on the floor to start the season, which answers the biggest injury question that hung over the roster all summer.
One significant question mark remains, though and it sits in the middle of the rotation: Nobody knows exactly when Dereck Lively II will play basketball again.
He will play at some point this season. That much seems clear.
But on Wednesday comes bad news regarding any real progress.
From ESPN's Tim MacMahon, "His status for the start of the season has yet to be determined. He has not suffered any setback and is slowly ramping up to begin basketball activity."
So ... still no timeline? We do find that rather confounding.
The word from new general manager Mike Schmitz back on Aug. 14 was full of praise, but it was light on specifics.
"(Lively) has been working his tail off," Schmitz said. "He's in the facility constantly, completely locked into everything we're doing and doing everything in his power to be his best self. Really proud of the approach he's taken and his mentality, his voice. He's young, but he's got a presence to him and just having him in our facility every day and working his tail off to get to 100 percent is something that we feel every day."
Schmitz continued in the same tone.
"He's doing everything in his power and we're just really proud of the progress he's made, continuing to chip away at everything as we get closer to the start of camp."
That was a genuinely positive update about a player's work ethic and presence. But is not a timeline. The phrase "get to 100 percent" suggests he was not there yet then and "continuing to chip away" implies a process still very much in motion.
And now those concerns are being realized ... even five weeks later.
The vagueness is consistent with everything that came before it. When Dallas announced the season-ending surgery in December, the team said Lively was expected to make a full recovery and be available for the start of training camp. That was the last firm commitment anyone made.
Since then, previous to Wednesday, the updates have come almost entirely from Lively himself. In the spring, he described going from a scooter and two crutches to walking with a cane, adding that he was letting the scans dictate his progress rather than how he felt. By late June, six months after surgery and out of the walking boot, he still declined to set a return date.
"I'm taking my time," Lively said at a Mavericks youth camp. "I'm taking even more time than I need to make sure I don't ever have to deal with this foot again. So whenever I can get past that and get over this hill, I know I'll be 100 percent free."
For a fan base that has watched him miss more games than he has played, comments like that can read as worrisome. They are sensible.
Lively has appeared in only 98 of 185 possible regular-season games, playing just seven last season. He averaged 4.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks before Dallas shut him down. December's operation was the second surgery on his right foot in roughly six months, following a July 2025 procedure to clean out bone spurs.
Dallas also has no reason to force it as the Mavericks are deeper in the frontcourt with bodies than they have been in years. With Daniel Gafford coming off a career season (while also being mentioned often in trade, as the above video establishes), Santi Aldama arriving from Memphis, first-round pick Morez Johnson Jr. added in the draft and Moussa Cisse retained after Dallas matched New York's offer sheet.
The reason to wait is what Lively can be. He posted the highest net rating on the roster during the 2024 playoff run, anchoring a defense that carried Dallas to the Finals while switching onto guards and protecting the rim as a rookie. Healthy, he is a foundational piece next to Flagg for the next decade.
So him not being ready as camp opens can be treated as bad news, and the absence of a timeline is frustrating ... but must also be accepted with patience.
