Dalembert misses Mavericks practice with swollen left knee

The injuries keep on piling up for the Dallas Mavericks.

Already down seven players, the Mavericks lost another one when center Samuel Dalembert missed Friday’s practice due to a swollen left knee. That leaves the Mavericks with just 12 healthy players in camp.

Point guard Deron Williams was already limited in practice due to a strained left calf. On Friday, he started developing some tightness in his right calf.

“We don’t think it’s anything serious,” coach Rick Carlisle said of Williams’ right calf. “But we’re watching him closely.”

Other players Carlisle is watching include small forward Chandler Parsons (right knee surgery), shooting guard Wesley Matthews (left Achilles surgery), center JaVale McGee (left tibial stress fracture), forward Dwight Powell (sprained left elbow), and center Salah Mejri (fractured left fibula).

Also, power forward Dirk Nowitzki has been limited in practice after playing international ball for the German national team last month.

Powell was injured when he said he was tackled by an opponent and fell awkwardly to the floor while he played last month for the Canadian national team.

“Powell has not been cleared yet, but we hope to have him cleared relatively soon,” Carlisle said. “He’s doing better.”

With so many players not in uniform, it’s been difficult to get a good read on precisely what the Mavs have after they fell to 0-2 in preseason play with Wednesday’s 109-82 drubbing in Houston.

“Yeah, it’s not optimal, especially when you have a new point guard [Williams] trying to learn the system as well,” Nowitzki said.

“Until you play with each other and practice with each other, that’s not going to help much. But we’re doing all we can so far to get everybody adjusted to the plays and the calls on defense, which is very important to get used to those, and just go from there.’’

Jobs available

Carlisle didn’t endorse many of his players as having already sewn up a spot on his final 15-man roster.

“Well, 75 percent are available out of the 20,” Carlisle said. “That’s a pretty big number.”

Carlisle named those he considers locks to make his final roster.

“I’ve got my money on Dirk making it,” he said. “I think Williams is going to make it, Parsons and Wes.

“I like [J.J.] Barea and [Devin] Harris, [Zaza] Pachulia. Look, there’s a lot to be determined yet, there’s a lot of be settled in terms of the roster.”

All 20 players in training camp have a fully guaranteed or partially guaranteed contract.

TV extra

Tuesday’s Dallas-Oklahoma City preseason game in Tulsa will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest Plus with a unique twist.

The game will feature Mavericks announcers Mark Followill, Derek Harper and Jeff “Skin” Wade along with a member of the Mavericks’ front office staff calling the game from Fox Sports Southwest’s studio in a conversational format.

The Mavericks-Thunder game will be shown on Fox Sports Southwest Plus, the network’s second channel, due to overlap with the Edmonton Oilers-Dallas Stars NHL telecast on Fox Sports Southwest.

Tipoff is 7 p.m.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Dalembert misses Mavericks practice with swollen left knee."