{"id":771662,"date":"2026-06-27T05:15:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/771662\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T05:15:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:15:46","slug":"mavs-center-dereck-lively-ii-no-timetable-for-return-after-multiple-foot-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/771662\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs center Dereck Lively II: No timetable for return after multiple foot surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>COLLEYVILLE, Texas \u2014 Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II has shed the walking boot he\u2019s spent most of this year in, but still hasn\u2019t progressed to running as he works his way back from multiple right foot surgeries.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters after spending Friday afternoon with about 100 youth players at a Mavericks basketball camp, the 22-year-old said there is still no timetable for his return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m taking my time,\u201d Lively said. \u201cI\u2019m taking even more time than I need to make sure I don\u2019t ever have to deal with this foot again. So whenever I can get past that, get over this hill, I know I\u2019ll be stress-free.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lively made an immediate impact for the Mavericks after being selected with the 12th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He averaged 7.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and one block as a rookie during Dallas\u2019 2024 postseason run, which concluded with a 4-1 series loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>But injuries have limited Lively to 43 games over the past two seasons. He appeared in 36 games in his second season due to a stress fracture in his right ankle. In July 2025, he had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right foot.<\/p>\n<p>Lively was available to play at the beginning of last season, but he only appeared in seven games before he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6879032\/2025\/12\/10\/dereck-lively-injury-mavericks-foot\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">underwent another right foot surgery in December<\/a>.\u00a0He still has three months before the Mavericks begin training camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just waiting to see if my foot is good,\u201d Lively said. \u201cEven when it\u2019s good, I have to wait even more to make sure I don\u2019t have to deal with this again. I\u2019m not going to rush back or worry about that. I have to take the things the public has to say about me \u2014 I\u2019m brittle and all that \u2014 but whenever I come back, don\u2019t forget who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lively has leaned heavily on former Mavericks center Tyson Chandler throughout his recovery. Chandler played for the Mavericks in two separate stints and was a key member of Dallas\u2019 2011 title team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s helped me stay centered and worried about the things I need to be worried about,\u201d Lively said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I can control. My diet. That\u2019s definitely been a big change. I\u2019m able to lift a lot more. I\u2019m a lot more flexible. I\u2019ve been trying to do 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day. No matter if I\u2019m swimming or if I\u2019m walking, just trying to stay in shape.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEYVILLE, Texas \u2014 Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II has shed the walking boot he\u2019s spent most of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":["post-771662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-basketball","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-mavericks","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116820372566322112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}