Santi Aldama nears Mavericks debut with Texas Legends stint

This isn't a real G League stint. It's a practice day, and Dallas laid out exactly how it's supposed to go.

Mike Curtis

@MikeACurtis2

The #Mavs say Santi Aldama has been assigned to the Texas Legends to practice, as part of his return to play protocol. He will scrimmage with the Legends and will be recalled following practice. Aldama is one step closer to making his Mavs debut.

So he scrimmages with the Legends, gets recalled the same day and stays off the G League box score. It's a box on the return-to-play checklist, and teams usually check it near the end of a rehab. Live 5-on-5 against bodies who aren't your own teammates going half speed in a walkthrough is the last real test before a guy gets cleared.

The road here has been long. Aldama had an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee in March while he was still in Memphis. It came with an orthobiologic injection to address discomfort in the trochlear compartment of the knee, and it ended his season with the Grizzlies.

Christian Clark

@christianpclark

Santi Aldama getting close to making his return. Been out since March after having right knee surgery.

Mavs PR

@MavsPR

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that F Santi Aldama has been assigned to the Texas Legends to practice with the team as part of his return to play protocol. He will scrimmage with the team and be recalled following practice without appearing in any games for the Legends.

Then the offseason happened. Memphis agreed to move him to Dallas on July 1, and the deal closed July 8 as part of a 6-team trade that also pulled in the Pistons, Clippers, Bucks and Wizards. Dallas paid real assets for a guy who couldn't play yet: AJ Johnson, a top-20 protected 2030 first-rounder that originally belonged to Golden State, and 2 future second-round picks.

Marc Stein

@TheSteinLine

Acquired in July as part of a six-team trade, Santi Aldama has been sidelined since knee surgery in March and will get in some practice work with the Mavericks’ @nbagleague affiliate before making his Dallas debut.

Marc Stein

@TheSteinLine

The Mavericks say Santi Aldama has been assigned to the Texas Legends to practice with the team as part of his return-to-play protocol.

That's why this matters. The Mavs have been carrying a trade acquisition who was limited in training camp and had no timetable to return, and now the protocol is finally moving. A team doesn't give up a first-round pick, even a heavily protected one, for a guy to sit in a suit, and Aldama hasn't put on a Dallas jersey for a game that counts yet.

What to watch next: how Aldama comes out of the scrimmage, and whether the knee responds the next day. The Mavericks haven't put a date on the debut. If the Legends session goes clean, though, the next update should be about when he plays, not whether he's ready to practice.