Dirk Nowitzki begins basketball activities, but Mavericks return still 'a few more weeks'

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said in a courtside interview on ESPN's telecast of the Mavs game Wednesday night that he "got some shots up" Wednesday for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Oct. 19.

Nowitzki agreed that it was a good sign that he was making his first road trip with the Mavericks since the surgery, but said it would be "in a few weeks" or "a couple of weeks" before he foresaw a return to games. "It's kind of hard to say."

Next week, Nowitzki said he will try to push his court work with running and some cutting. 

The original timetable put out by the Mavericks for the most extensive downtime of his career was 6 to 8 weeks before resuming basketball activity. But Nowitzki later said he was looking at mid-December after a quicker return proved to be overly optimistic.