Mavericks duo might not be available to play in opener

With training camp set to start Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks still aren’t sure if small forward Chandler Parsons and shooting guard Wesley Matthews will be ready when they open the regular season Oct. 28 in Phoenix.

While playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, Matthews had surgery in March after tearing his left Achilles tendon against the Mavs, who signed him to a four-year, $70 million free agent contract in July.

Parsons suffered a hybrid microfracture of his right knee and underwent surgery last May.

Coach Rick Carlisle is pointing to around Christmas when he expects Matthews to be ready to play.

“I’d say it’s a definite maybe,” Carlisle said Monday of a Christmas return. “It could be sooner. It’s hard to say.

“He’s not going to want to tell you that and we’re going to have to fight to keep him off the court, but we’ve got to make sure we do this the right way and that’s he’s really 100 percent healthy and conditioned and all of those things before getting into an NBA game.”

Eager to get back on the court, Matthews respectfully begs to differ with Carlisle’s assessment.

“I’m trying to be ready by opening day,” Matthews said at Monday’s Media Day. “Whether I can play in it or not, I can’t really control that. But my goal is to be ready and available opening day.”

As far as Parsons’ availability to start the season, Carlisle said: “Well, I would say that there’s a chance that Parsons could play in the opener, is my understanding. By NBA standards we’re light years from knowing if that’s a real possibility or not.”

Parsons is going through Pilates and yoga twice a week, and his knee has showed marked improvements. He even dunked last week for the first time since his surgery.

Yet, Parsons isn’t ready to play full contact basketball.

“My hope and my goal still is to be ready for opening night in Phoenix,” Parsons said. “Obviously I can’t make any promises.

“I didn’t want to miss any time. There’s no rush, but obviously I’m eager and I’m hungry to get back out there and play as many games as possible and not miss any time.”

Parsons still upset

Parsons is still upset that his friend, DeAndre Jordan, reneged on a verbal promise in July to sign a free agent contract with the Mavs.

“He’s got a computer, he reads the articles,” Parsons said. “He’s well aware that I wasn’t happy.”

How unhappy was Parsons, who courted, dined and vigorously recruited Jordan in hopes that he would sign with the Mavs?

“I took it a little personal, just being so close to it, being so hands on with it,” he said. “I’ve known [Jordan] since I was 16 years old, so if you tell me something to my face, I’m going to believe it, especially if you’re my boy and you’re my friend.

“But at the end of the day he didn’t do anything illegal, he didn’t break any rules. I think it was wrong and maybe the NBA will change the rules or whatever, but he was entitled to do that. It’s his decision.”

No quit in Nowitzki

Power forward Dirk Nowitzki plans to play out the remaining two years on his contract before he starts thinking about retirement.

“Obviously it gets closer, but it’s not like I’m thinking of the beach every day,” the 37-year-old said. “I want to play two more years under contract here — hopefully at a high level — compete, hopefully be efficient when I’m out there, and then retirement obviously comes soon enough.

“But as of now I still think I can play at a high level. I’m going to work my butt off here these four weeks [of training camp] to get in the best shape I can get, and then leave it all out there again.”

Nowitzki doesn’t plan on making any long-term announcements before he retires.

“Obviously if you know me a little bit I’m not going to do what some of these athletes do and announce it the year before and have a farewell tour,” he said. “That’s the worst thing that I can think about — [have to] talk about it every day.

“When I’m gone, I’m gone. That’s how it’s going to go.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Mavericks duo might not be available to play in opener."