Dallas Mavs coach Rick Carlisle won't commit to a timeline of return for franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki, as he is yet to practice with the team due to his recovery from ankle surgery. Carlisle had mentioned it would be a matter or weeks, not months to get the 7-footer back on the court for his NBA-record 21st season with the same franchise, but noted he would need to see significant progress before considering his return for the season-opener against the Phoenix Suns.
“It's a matter of going full bore and then feeling good afterwards,” Rick Carlisle said, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “I would have to think that once we got him feeling significantly better, there wouldn't have to be a lot of full, live workouts to get him into games. But we're down the road a little more age-wise, so things aren't necessarily what they were last year, the year before or whatever.
“He's making gradual progress. We need to have him make some real significant progress, get him on the court, and then we can talk about it.”
Dirk Nowitzki notably sat out the last four games of the 2017-18 season to undergo left ankle surgery as early as possible, hoping to give himself ample time to return from the injury. It hasn't all panned as he expected, still unable to get the wheels back on the hardwood.
Now 40 years old, joints just don't recover the same way as they would when he was younger, taking more time to recover, as well as to ramp up activity to gear for an 82-game season.
Nowitzki would have exactly two weeks to recover if he was to make his season debut against the Suns on Oct. 17 for the season-opener. A few more days could potentially have him take the court against the Minnesota Timberwolves for the home season-opener on Oct. 20 at the American Airlines Center.
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