Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II underwent a successful foot surgery this week, according to reports by ESPN’s Shams Charania and NBA insider Marc Stein, to remove bone spurs from his foot. The 21-year old big man entering his third season with the Mavericks is expected to be healthy and recovered in time for training camp in a couple months.
After a productive rookie season that saw him play an impactful role in the team’s run to the NBA Finals, Lively battled injury in hi sophomore campaign.
Limited to just 36 games last season, Lively was still a key player in the roller-coaster ride of last season while averaging 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 23 minutes per game.
His season was derailed by an injury the Mavericks reported as a right ankle stress fracture that forced him to miss over two months. With the season already lost Lively returned in April to appear in four games where he posted averages of just 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.
Lively’s injury was one in an avalanche of injuries the team sustained in 2025, all in the midst of turmoil related to the team’s strength and conditioning and athletic training staff. The team has already made moves this offseason to change some of that personnel and will certainly be under the microscope heading into next season while fans eagerly await the return of Kyrie Irving in the back half of the regular season.
The hope would be this procedure clears up any remaining hindrances for Lively — though it is worth noting that back in April team general manager Nico Harrison stated he did not believe Lively would need any future surgeries related to the ankle injury. We now find ourselves a few months later with this report.
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