Mavericks center Dereck Lively II is on track to return to action on Friday when Dallas hosts the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Lively has been sidelined since October 26 due to a right knee sprain that kept him on the shelf for the team’s past nine games.
Asked on Friday by reporters whether he’ll play tonight, Lively didn’t confirm Charania’s report, but smiled and said, “Time will tell” (Twitter video link via Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News).
Lively’s return will be a welcome sight for a Mavs team that hasn’t had a fully healthy frontcourt since the regular season began. Daniel Gafford missed the first five games of the season due to a sprained ankle and by the time he made his debut on November 1, Lively was out with his knee sprain while Anthony Davis was sidelined due to a calf strain.
Davis still hasn’t made his return, with a report earlier this week stating that team governor Patrick Dumont wants to see medical data indicating the star big man won’t be at risk of aggravating his calf strain or making the injury worse before he signs off on Davis’ return.
Lively, who underwent offseason ankle surgery, started Dallas’ first three games this season but played a limited role, averaging 5.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 16.7 minutes per night. He made 7-of-9 field goal attempts across those three outings, while the Mavs had a +11.8 net rating during his 51 minutes on the court.
Friday’s game at American Airlines Center is a matchup between two underachieving Western Conference teams that entered the season expecting to make the playoffs. Dallas has a 3-9 record so far, while L.A. is just 3-8.
Nice to see a team owner actually care about a player’s health, for all the flack Dumont catches, it seems that he’s trying to turn it around. maybe too little to late but at least its something. Firing Nico went a long way but still more work to do if he wants to earn the trust of the fans back.
Mavs have nothing to play for this season, they should look to dismantle and rebuild