A lot has happened since the last time Dereck Lively II suited up for the Dallas Mavericks.
Oct. 26 was the last time the third-year center was last active.
The Mavericks were just one game below .500. Cooper Flagg was the team’s starting point guard. Anthony Davis was still in the lineup. Daniel Gafford had yet to make his season debut. Nico Harrison was still general manager.
None of those facts apply today, as Lively appears set to return from a right knee sprain that’s held him out of the last nine games.
Mavericks
Lively will return to the lineup for Friday’s game against the LA Clippers, according to a report by ESPN. His comments after the team’s morning shootaround appeared to indicate he’s looking forward to helping his team bounce back from a two-game losing streak.
“I feel good,” Lively said. “Just taking my time listening to my body, reacting to the things that I can control. Not reacting to the things I can’t control.”
Dereck Lively (right knee) said “time will tell” if he’s feeling good enough to play vs. the Clippers tonight.
When asked about Nico Harrison’s firing: “Just things that are out of my control. I gotta be focused on the team, getting this W today & bringing that effort & energy.” pic.twitter.com/UNgtGLZirV
— Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2) November 14, 2025
Lively said the injury occurred shortly after the Mavericks’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 26. He felt discomfort in his right knee after the game, characterizing the setback as “bumps and bruises” that occur during an NBA season. The Mavericks initially labeled the injury as a right knee contusion, but upgraded the designation to a sprain on Oct. 28.
“It took some time to get the results back,” Lively said. “The time that it takes to get it back, we had to say what it was. We can’t lie to y’all. We gotta be honest. I’m not going to be able to go out here and just say that it wasn’t nothing. I had to listen to my body. There were some things I couldn’t do, so I had to give my body some time to rest.”
Lively averaged 5.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 blocks through his first three games. He and the franchise hoped this season would be a breakout year, one that had minimal injuries unlike his first two years in the league.
Lively has played in just 94 out of a possible 176 regular season games so far in his professional career since he was acquired by Harrison on the night of the 2023 NBA draft. He reflected on how he’s dealt with his unavailability, citing the ebb and flow of playing in the NBA.
“There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs,” Lively said. “You look at last year, there were a lot of injuries but we stayed together. We stayed focused on what we can control. There’s going to be bumps and bruises. There’s going to be ups and downs.”
As for his reaction to Harrison’s dismissal, Lively refrained from commenting specifically about the sudden change that placed interim general managers Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley in charge of basketball operations.
“It’s just things that are out of my control like I said,“ Lively said. ”I gotta be focused on the team, getting this W today and bringing that effort and energy like I possibly can. We’re focused on each day and trying to stay present.”
Those comments seem to suggest Lively will be on the Mavericks’ new blue court for Friday’s game, which is the Mavericks’ NBA Cup home opener.
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