SHANGHAI -- Dirk Nowitzki remains weeks away from seeing any game action, coach Rick Carlisle said Wednesday after the Mavericks' first practice in China.

Nowitzki also said that it's not his surgically repaired left ankle that is causing problems, but tendons in his foot that are sore.

"Those tendons didn't even get used for five or six years because of the bone spurs," Nowitzki said. "Now they're moving around and that's causing the soreness. The actual surgery area is fine."

Nowitzki tried to scrimmage with his teammates in September but the foot and ankle became inflamed and he has not been doing any court work since training camp started Sept. 21.

The Mavericks - and a legion of fans in China - were hoping that Nowitzki would be able to play in the two exhibition games against Philadelphia, the first of which is Friday. But Nowitzki said he will sit out the rest of the preseason.

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) watches teammates guard Devin Harris (left) and guard J.J. Barea (right) as they stretch before practice at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in Shanghai. The Mavericks will face the Philadelphia 76ers in Shanghai on Oct. 5th in the first of two NBA China Games 2018 preseason basketball games. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

"He won't do anything on this trip," Carlisle said. "I can't give you any kind of a soft timeline. It's weeks, not days, as far as getting on the court for live action.

"He is making gradual progress. We're just not at a point where we can talk about a hard timeline."

Carlisle did say that once the inflammation is out of Nowitzki's foot, he didn't see a lot of preparation time needed to get him into game action.

"I have to think that once we got him feeling significantly better, there wouldn't have to be a lot of full live workouts to get him in a game."

Nowitzki sat out of Wednesday morning's practice at Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai. He did not go through any stretching or drills with the team.

"It's just going slow," Nowitzki said.

Asked if there was a chance he could be ready for the season opener on Oct. 17, he just gave a harrumph and let that speak for itself.