Dallas Mavs Not Ready to Reveal Starting Center; Dereck Lively Practices With Bench?

The Mavs have started rookie center Dereck Lively II in each of the team's three preseason games but aren't ready to reveal their plans for the regular season opener.

DALLAS — Despite the Dallas Mavericks rapidly nearing their Oct. 25 regular season opening matchup against the San Antonio Spurs, there remains a lack of clarity regarding two of the team's five starting jobs. 

Beyond the Mavs' clear choices of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Grant Williams, it remains to be seen who will start. Beyond those three names, there are "many" possibilities, particularly on the wing. 

The Mavs began preseason testing rookies Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper in starting roles, but only Lively remained with the first group beyond the team's preseason opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Josh Green started the next game, with Derrick Jones Jr. being the most recent to receive the nod. 

At the start of training camp, coach Jason Kidd admitted one of Lively or Prosper would "probably" be a starter to begin the season. The starting wing spot seems likely to end up going to either Green or Jones at this juncture, but Lively still appears to be positioned to have a strong case, at the very least.  

The Mavs' big picture goals very much rely on the development of Lively given he's the only option on the roster with ideal physical tools to anchor a defense, standing at 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot-7 wingspan. At 19, Lively will need to figure out the NBA game and remain focused on adding weight to his frame. Will he remain the starter?

Lively has displayed his impressive talent as a defensive anchor and lob threat, but naturally, there have been displays of him being in the beginning of a learning process. The Mavs fully expect there to be growing pains, so he hasn't played his way out of a starting job by any stretch. Regardless, the Day 1 starter has yet to be established, with options like Dwight Powell and Richaun Holmes to consider. 

“Lively has done an incredible job as a rookie,” Kidd said. “He’s 19 years old. We’ve asked him to start and we’ve asked him to play with the second group here in practice this week. He’s done everything we’ve asked, and he’s a rookie. He’s not going to be perfect. ... But he’s in work mode and he’s in learning mode in the sense that he wants to learn, he wants to get it right and that’s all you can ask for.”

Kidd commonly mentioned Lively's participation with the second group throughout the week leading into Friday's preseason finale against the Detroit Pistons. 

When asked about who has been starting if Lively has been practicing with the bench group, Kidd jokingly replied: "Everybody."

Regardless of which personnel combinations the Mavs choose for opening night, the coaching staff is prepared to go through a trial and error process that a 12-day international trip and injuries has seemingly set them back.

“It’s going to take time, I would say,” Kidd said. “With the trip and everything that we’ve done, injury-wise, we’re probably a little bit behind. It’s not a bad thing. I don’t want people to take that out of context, and they probably will. It’s just the truth. We’ve got a lot of new pieces. We’ve got to get to know one another, and we’re trying to form relationships on and off the floor.

“If things don’t go well right away, it doesn’t mean that the world’s coming to an end," Kidd explained. "We’ve got a lot of positive things happening right now that are taking place on the floor and off the floor and as a coach you can sleep a little better at night.”

Regardless of which player starts at center for the Mavs on opening night, the team will have their hands full handling Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the Spurs' lineup.