Dirk Nowitzki will miss his ninth straight game when the Mavericks battle the Spurs on Friday night.

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm out for tonight," Nowitzki said after Friday morning's shootaround.

He has been sidelined since Dec. 27 with a sprained right knee.

Friday morning marked the first time he went one-one-one with another player since the injury.

"Dirk increases his workouts every day and signs are positive," coach Rick Carlisle said. "But it's very important that we focus on the guys we have available at this time and make sure that he gets back absolutely 100 percent healthy. We've listed him day to day because we don't believe this is a serious injury and he is making progress.

"On the other hand, we are going to maintain an extremely cautious posture on this going forward, and like everyone else we want him to get back 100 percent healthy as soon as possible."