Mavericks' most notorious mistake just came back to haunt them after Lively II injury

It's no secret that the Dallas Mavericks' 2024-25 season was derailed due to several injuries to star and role players across the roster. While injuries are an unfortunate aspect of pro sports, the Mavericks faced an injury bug that seemingly lasted for the entire regular season.

With this in mind, Dallas aimed to get healthier this offseason while also acquiring their stopgap point guard, D'Angelo Russell, as Kyrie Irving continues to rehab his torn ACL. Getting healthier was arguably one of the Mavericks' biggest goals this offseason, and for Dereck Lively II, it meant he needed to undergo surgery this past week to help clean up bone spurs in his right foot.

While this was a surgery to increase Lively II's odds of being ready by the start of training camp and to play most of next season, his injury once again exposed one of Dallas' fatal flaws about itself over the past season that could have been totally avoided.

Last season's medical team is still setting Mavericks back this offseason

Throughout multiple periods of last season, it felt like all hope was lost when the Mavericks were playing a rotation of only seven to eight players due to injury restrictions. The worst part about the scary number of injuries the Mavericks faced throughout the year was that some of them were totally avoidable had Nico Harrison and the team's front office done their diligence in the hiring process of finding a new training staff.

While Harrison made several questionable decisions, starting with trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, to the dismissal of longtime athletic trainer Casey Smith, perhaps his biggest mistake was who he hired to be last season's head athletic trainer. Harrison not only put in place a person who didn't meet the NBA's athletic trainer qualifications, but their product showed on the floor as they ranked dead last in games lost due to injury.

To make matters worse, multiple players were rushed back from injury, and even Lively II likely made his stress fracture injury worse since he was recklessly thrown onto the court by last year's training staff. While Lively II ultimately needed surgery, it almost would have been smarter had he undergone this procedure in the middle of the season, despite being healthy for the play-in games.

Even though Harrison and the Mavericks thoroughly and rightly fired last year's training team, half of the injuries they are currently facing could have been avoidable. The expectation is that both Lively II and Anthony Davis (who is out with an eye injury) will be healthy and ready to play full five-on-five basketball by the start of training camp, which is a good sign.

Although the expectation is that Lively II will be fully healthy by the time training camp rolls around, the Mavericks can't afford to trade Daniel Gafford, who is anticipated to be the backup center this coming year, despite signing a new contract extension. Lively II has yet to show he can play a full 82 games or even meet the league's 65-game threshold without injuries derailing his season, which is likely why the Mavs and Gafford inked a new contract extension.

While Gafford is fully expected to be a part of the Mavs next season, the team can't get caught up in an injury bug like they did the previous year if they want any shot at competing for a championship next season. A lot will need to fall in the Mavericks' favor if they truly do believe they can compete for a championship, but it will start with health and when Irving can return from his ACL tear.