Lively Still Sidelined as May's First Camp Opens Without Its Starting Center

Dereck Lively II will not be at training camp when Dusty May runs his first practice as a head coach in the NBA. Nine months after foot surgery, the young center remains not cleared for basketball activity, still working his way back toward a return date that hasn't been set. It's a quiet but meaningful complication for a coaching staff that needs every available body to start learning a new system from scratch.

The frontcourt picture is already patchwork. Dallas brought in Santi Aldama this summer specifically to add a switchable, modern big who could function in May's framework, and Moussa Cisse was retained to shore up depth at center. Those moves look more load-bearing now. Without Lively, May can't evaluate his full frontcourt rotation or establish the defensive habits — rim protection, pick-and-roll coverage — that a young team needs to build early and build consistently.

The broader context here is that Dallas overhauled this roster around execution and discipline, the two things that cratered a 27-56 season. That project requires repetition, and repetition requires presence. Lively missing the start of camp doesn't derail anything yet, but it does mean the Mavericks open May's tenure with a gap where their most physically imposing center should be. Worth watching how long that gap holds.