Mavericks Center Dereck Lively Ii Not Cleared For Training Camp, 9 Months After Foot Surgery

More than nine months after undergoing season-ending surgery to address "lingering pain and soreness" in his right foot, fourth-year center Dereck Lively II still has yet to be medically cleared to take the floor when the Dallas Mavericks begin training camp Saturday, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

Selected 12th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, Lively played a significant role in Dallas as a rookie, making 42 regular-season starts and teaming with veteran Daniel Gafford to provide a potent center combo alongside Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving on a Mavericks team that made the NBA Finals. The 7-foot-1 Lively's combination of high-efficiency finishing (1.39 points per possession out of the pick-and-roll and 1.48 points per possession as a cutter as a rookie, both top-10 marks among high-volume players) and rim protection (58.5% field-goal percentage allowed on attempts at the basket, right between Evan Mobley and Bam Adebayo) made the Duke product an extremely exciting prospect — one of the brightest young bigs in the league, seemingly poised for a significant leap after returning to the starting lineup early in his sophomore season.

But a stress fracture in his right ankle midway through the 2024-25 campaign, and multiple subsequent footinjuries and surgical repairs since, have largely derailed Lively's promising early career. He has played in just 43 total games over the last two seasons, including just seven appearances in 2025-26; he hasn't played since Nov. 21.

After Lively's latest surgery on that troublesome right foot, back in December, the Mavericks said he was "expected to make a full recovery and be healthy in time for training camp." The process of getting back to full strength, though, has taken longer than initially anticipated.

During an early June appearance on Myles Turner’s and Breanna Stewart's podcast, Lively said he no longer needed a scooter, walking boot, crutches or cane to get around, and that he was "getting back to building my lower leg strength." Appearing at a Mavericks youth camp several weeks later, Lively said that he still wasn't able to run or jump yet, six months removed from surgery.

"I am really just thankful for the small milestones," Lively said, according to Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News. "I'm able to move again, lift again and those things, it's what I live on now. It's those little wins is what I thrive on."

New Mavericks general manager Mike Schmitz said during a radio appearance this summer that Lively "has been working his tail off" in pursuit of stacking those little wins, and that the 22-year-old had been "in the facility constantly" working to get back on the floor.

"He's doing everything in his power, and we're just really proud of the progress he's made and continuing to chip away at everything as we get closer to the start of camp," Schmitz said.

With camp just days away from opening, though, Lively is still just "ramping up toward being cleared for basketball activity," according to MacMahon — a status that isn't necessarily discouraging to a new Mavericks braintrust helmed by Masai Ujiri, Schmitz and new head coach Dusty May, but one that also casts doubt on whether the fourth-year former lottery pick will be available when the 2026-27 NBA season tips off next month.

The uncertainty over Lively's current status, and the lengthy injury history that has seen him miss 148 of a possible 246 regular-season games since entering the NBA, has led to questions about his future status. He's set to earn $7.2 million in the final season of his rookie-scale deal, and is eligible for a contract extension. Fellow 2023 draftees Victor Wembanyama, Amen Thompson, Ausar Thompson and Keyonte George have already inked lucrative re-ups; despite some reported "early-stage" discussions this summer, though, no such deal has yet materialized for Lively. The deadline for members of the 2023 draft class to reach an agreement on a rookie-scale extension is Oct. 19 — the day before the start of the new season.

It remains to be seen whether the Mavericks, Lively and his representatives at Klutch Sports can find a landing spot for an extension that's satisfactory to both sides, just as it remains unclear when exactly we'll next see the talented young big man take the court. Lively, for his part, remains focused on ensuring that whenever he does step back between the lines, he's able to stay there for the long haul, and cement himself as part of the Mavericks' young core alongside Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg and 2026 first-round pick Morez Johnson Jr.

"I'm just waiting to see that my foot's good," Lively said back in June. "Even when it's good, I gotta wait even more to make sure I don't have to do this again. I'm never going to rush back. I'm never going to worry about that. If I gotta take the things that the fans and the public gotta say about me, 'I'm brittle. I'm all that.' Cool. When I come back, don't forget who I am."