Aldama’s partial practice moves rehab forward while Dallas waits

Santi Aldama took part in Tuesday’s Mavericks practice, but the most important word in that update was “partial.” Dallas still expects to open against Houston without the forward.

That is progress with a hard boundary. Aldama is officially out after right-knee surgery, and May said he is very close to returning. Neither fact turns limited work into clearance, and Wednesday’s opener arrives too soon for Dallas to build its plan around a player who has not been approved to play.

For the Mavericks, the sensible approach is to hold two thoughts at once. Aldama’s rehabilitation appears to be moving in the right direction, while the available roster must handle Houston without him. One timeline belongs to the player. The other belongs to the team’s nightly problem-solving.

The value Dallas is waiting for

Aldama’s Memphis production shows the kind of contribution Dallas is waiting to receive. Across 43 games last season, he produced per-game averages of 2.9 assists, 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds, while shooting 35% from beyond the arc. Dallas is not simply waiting for another scorer.

It is waiting for a forward who can contribute across the frontcourt, connect passes and stretch a defense enough to ease the burden on Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.

Those numbers describe the player Dallas hopes to use once he is ready; they do not forecast his first game in a Mavericks uniform. Aldama had right-knee arthroscopy on March 17, and Tuesday’s session was a checkpoint in the recovery rather than an opening-night audition. The club can welcome the development without treating Wednesday as a deadline.

The shortage around him is substantial. Dereck Lively II remains unavailable following right-foot surgery. Tarik Biberovic missed Tuesday’s practice because of right-heel bursitis.

Caleb Martin’s right-thumb sprain has ruled him out. Jett Howard, after initially not appearing in the earlier update because of illness, was later listed as questionable with right-calf tightness. Max Christie completed the full session after sitting out Friday’s Atlanta finale, though that does not establish a starting role or a fixed workload.

That list makes Aldama’s absence part of a larger allocation puzzle. Dallas must spread out frontcourt minutes, preserve enough shooting and keep every difficult possession from becoming a Flagg-or-Irving possession. One replacement cannot solve several overlapping absences.

May’s answer starts before the shot

May’s Tuesday emphasis was refreshingly unglamorous: enter actions sooner, make the first catch cleanly, get to quick outlets and advance the ball with passes. None of that proves a new system is already operating. It does identify where pressure can be reduced before a possession becomes a rescue mission.

May also estimated that Dallas’ attention had shifted to roughly 80% to 85% on its own work and 15% to 20% on Houston. The previous week, he had placed the split closer to 90% to 95% for internal preparation. That is a small but meaningful change in the calendar.

The Mavericks are moving from broad preseason experimentation toward the specific demands of an opponent, even while several lineup answers remain unsettled.

Houston should expose whether the collective response is sturdy enough. The Rockets finished last season 52-30 and bring the pressure and rebounding emphasis Flagg described Tuesday. The preseason meetings offered two sharply different snapshots: Houston won 135-117 on Oct. 9, then Dallas won 132-115 two nights later.

That split establishes familiarity, not a forecast. It also leaves Dallas with no excuse to pretend the matchup will be solved by novelty.

Aldama’s partial practice is useful precisely because it does not alter the immediate forecast. Dallas can preserve the rehabilitation win and prepare for Houston as if he will be absent. Until that designation changes, the answer has to come from quicker decisions, cleaner organization and enough shared responsibility to keep one forward’s recovery from becoming the whole team’s nightly assignment.

Sources

Dallas Sports Journal: Tuesday practice and injury update

Dallas Sports Journal: Flagg’s Tuesday practice remarks

NBA: official injury report, midnight Eastern October 21