Dereck Lively II’s silent injury update shows Mavericks just dodged disaster

The Dallas Mavericks are about to play in their most anticipated game to date, as Luka Doncic will suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time against his old team.

As a team that's just on the cusp of an NBA Play-In Tournament appearance, and trading away the face of the franchise, this is clearly not the season Dallas had in mind when they started the 2024-25 regular season.

Now with Dallas seeming to get better with health, there still remains few questions about the status of Dereck Lively II. He went down in mid-January during a tough stretch of teams across the NBA, and now up in the air is when he'll return to the court.

Lively II putting up shots provides optimism to a return this season

It seems things are moving in the right direction for Lively II. He previously went down with a stress fracture in his right ankle in mid-January, and while initial reports looked promising, the Mavs dropped some concerning news at a bad time, saying that Lively II's injury was going to be a long-term absence.

There is movement in regard to his return. ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported on Lively II getting some shots up hours before tipoff of the Mavs-Lakers game.

This was also great news for Anthony Davis, who went down with an adductor strain in his Mavs debut. There is still a possibility of Davis needing to have surgery, which would end his season, and that's something Jason Kidd didn't leave off of the table when asked about Davis' injury earlier this month.

Lively II has been known to frequently suffer injuries in the past, and durablity remains a concern for him moving forward in his career. It could be time doing its thing with Lively II to get naturally better at handling an 82-game regular season, but his availibility needs to start becoming more naturally consistent.

If he becomes more durable, Lively II could be a gold asset for Dallas for a long period of time as there's still plenty of room for the second-year big man to grow with so much athleticism and versatility. Hopefully, he'll begin to experiment with his deep-range shot once he gets to 100 percent again, as his jumper looks extremely promising in practice.

This was supposed to be a season of golden opportunity for the Mavericks to grow more with Doncic, in what was supposed to be arguably his best supporting cast to date, but injuries have taken its toll in what's officially now one of the more weirdest seasons in Mavericks history.

What fans should prepare for is a death lineup of rotating Lively II with Davis and Daniel Gafford to be the three-headed monster in the big man positions. We should get some more games to witness that during this season, and it could be one of the most dominant frontcourts that the NBA hasn't seen in a long time.

Dallas' bigs are set to be reevaluated on March 6, and we'll have you covered with all the latest.