DALLAS — For the majority of the years where the franchise has found success, the Dallas Mavericks have made due without a defensive presence protecting the rim.
There was a large gap in a capable big with shot-blocking ability and pick-and-roll prowess between the heyday of James Donaldson in the late ‘80’s and the arrival of Tyson Chandler in 2010. When Dallas finally filled that hole and achieved their first championship, they almost immediately lost it once again, searching tirelessly for Chandler’s replacement ever since.
A generation later, it appears as though Dallas has found their rim protecting stalwart for the next decade.
Entering the league after one year at blue blood program Duke, Dereck Lively II was selected as the 12th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the fruits of Dallas’ controversial tanking effort at the end of the 2022-23 season to keep the pick away from the New York Knicks.
Though former majority owner Mark Cuban’s wallet took a hit for the maneuver, the decision paid off as Lively arrived with the potential to address the Mavericks’ glaring weaknesses, and he quickly began to earn the trust of the team during his first NBA training camp.
The Mavs wanted to connect the dots quickly, setting him up for success by pairing him with their championship winning center with Chandler playing the role of mentor.
Draft stock aside, the question early in Lively’s debut season was how quickly could he acclimate to a league loaded with bullying bigs at a position and role that often takes years to grow into.
The Maverick fanbase had been largely trained under the Rick Carlisle years that rookies don’t get much playing time in Dallas. The potential was absolutely there, but Lively was still a 20-year-old who had his only one year at Duke and that season was interrupted by injury. There were also several veteran big men on the depth chart that had already reached some NBA success that would need to be leapfrogged.
However, coach Jason Kidd quickly pushed all of those narratives aside as the season began, with Lively making his way up the depth chart for good. The "Tyson Chandler Jr." aspect was clearly there, as Lively quickly became a favorite lob target for stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving early in his rookie year.
More importantly, Lively also more than held his own in the interior, with surprising perimeter defense being a bonus. By the end of the regular season, Lively averaged close to 24 minutes per game, scoring 8.8 points and having 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. For his effort, he finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting.
However, for as good as Lively was so quickly as a rookie, he grew leaps and bounds in the postseason, often looking like the team’s third best player behind the All-World guards.
In the Mavericks’ deep playoff push, Lively was essential, and his tandem with Daniel Gafford afforded them both to play relentlessly without the fear of one of their goliaths fouling out and leaving Dallas empty down low.
In each series, Lively showed the tenacity and fearlessness needed to operate in the interior. Even when beaten, the effort was there on the next play, contending for rebounds and looking to alter shots of driving opponents. He was a difference maker, especially in their Western Conference semifinal matchup against the Oklahoma Thunder.
For as much of a catalyst as he was in closing out Oklahoma City, Lively could have very well been a Thunder himself. The 12th pick in the draft was held by OKC, but Lively ended up a Mav in exchange for the unplayable Davis Bertans and the player that Dallas selected at No. 10 overall, Cason Wallace.
The Lively-Wallace swap led to the irony of OKC sending away the player that helped end their playoff run. The Thunder’s shortsightedness was the Mavericks' gain. In the offseason, realizing their mistake, Oklahoma City gave former Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein a three-year, $87 million contract to contend with Lively and the Mavs.
Going forward, Lively’s ceiling is massive. He was a big-time shot blocker at Duke, and the effort on display in the playoffs showed that his skills are translating to the league against marquee names. As a lob threat on every possession, Lively will need to be accounted for by defenses. The next step will be developing a mid range shot to keep his opponents honest.
The current Maverick rotation will see the top three scoring options run as Doncic, Irving, and free agent addition Klay Thompson, but the center will be key on dump-off passes and runs to the rim as the trio breaks down the defense. Even with such a loaded offense, an expectation of double-digit scoring for the sophomore is within reach. Lively had nine such efforts in the playoffs for Dallas.
Lively will turn 21 right before the trade deadline next year, which will likely be his only connection to that activity. He has quickly made himself an invaluable member of the Dallas core that the Mavericks can build around, a true running mate big for Doncic. The rest of the roster will fluctuate around those two as the Mavericks look to hoist their second Larry O’Brien.
Do you think Dereck Lively will take another step forward in his second season? Share your thoughts with Irvin on X (formerly Twitter) @Twittirv.
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