For all the changes Dallas has made this offseason, Dirk Nowitzki says the biggest question hanging over the Mavericks is still a familiar one: can Dereck Lively II stay on the floor?
The franchise legend pointed straight at the center’s health when asked what could define the season.
"I think the key is obviously going to be [Dereck] Lively’s health. How’s he going to look?
He’s such a game changer when he’s healthy," Nowitzki said to Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News. "His length, his activity, his defense.
Man, he’s good. A lot depends on if his foot is going to be right.
Is he going to be out there? Is he going to miss some time early and hopefully stay healthy?"
That concern comes with good reason. Lively has already shown what he can do when healthy, helping anchor the defense for a team that reached the NBA Finals in 2024. But staying healthy has been the problem since he entered the league in 2023.
As a rookie, he appeared in 55 games. Since then, the availability has slipped, and the foot issues have become the story.
In January of 2025, a stress fracture in his foot was initially misdiagnosed as a sprained ankle. He had been ramping up to return a week after the injury before the stress fracture was discovered, and that diagnosis change kept him out for most of the rest of the season.
Lively did make it back late in the year and also appeared in the Play-In Tournament, but he was clearly not himself. He played 36 games in the 2024-25 season.
The problems didn’t stop there. In the 2025 offseason, Lively had bone spurs removed, then played in just 7 games in the 2025-26 season before needing season-ending surgery on the same foot. That means three procedures on the same foot in under a year.
Given the injury concerns that followed him out of college, the situation is hard to ignore for a seven-footer. Dallas still hasn’t offered a firm update on where he stands in his recovery, and with training camp set to begin at the end of the month, that answer should be coming soon.
What makes Lively so valuable is more than just the shot-blocking. His passing is a big part of the package.
He can catch on the roll and quickly kick the ball back out to an open shooter, which gives the offense a different gear. That’s the kind of impact the Mavericks could use most if he’s finally able to stay healthy.
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