Mavericks center Dereck Lively II not cleared for training camp, 9 months after foot surgery

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 foot injuries 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.