Santi Aldama’s Timeframe For Return Remains A Mystery

The Dallas Mavericks are just a few short days away from the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season. The Mavericks wrapped their preseason slate with a somewhat dismal 1-3 record, but the silver lining is that they welcomed back Kyrie Irving (who looked very much like the player we remember) and suffered no new injuries in the process.

No new injuries does not mean the Mavericks are truly at full strength, of course. Dereck Lively remains sidelined and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Joining him is newly acquired Santi Aldama. Aldama had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee back on March 17 when he was still a member of the Memphis Grizzlies. That ended his season early and resulted in an absence from which he has still not returned. He sat out all four preseason games.

Strangely, there has been relatively little news regarding Aldama’s timetable for return despite the fact he figures on being a significant contributor. Now on the eve of the season, Mike Curtis reports a small update  

Head coach Dusty May said “he doesn’t know yet” if Aldama will be available for Wednesday night’s season opener. The comment is straightforward, yet somewhat puzzling. Wednesday is mere days away at this point, so the comment seems to suggest a return is imminent, even if not for the season opener. May was earlier quoted as saying Aldama was “getting much, much closer” after a solid practice, and he is roughly seven months to the day removed from surgery.

The Mavericks have played injury news very close to the vest under the new regime of Masai Ujiri, Mike Schmitz and May, so we are in somewhat uncharted territory of how to truly read this messaging. Nonetheless, and at the expense of assuming too much, it seems irresponsible for May to suggest favorable progress and a potential return as soon as this week if Aldama is in fact weeks (or more) away.

Aldama is a seven-foot stretch big that should be able to add a meaningful dynamic to the Mavericks on both sides of the ball. Having him back and at full health is critical to the Mavs’ success this season, especially with Lively expected to be out for an extended period. While we can only speculate on the exact return date for Aldama, the facts seem to suggest that it will be sooner than later.

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