The Dallas Mavericks have not seen much of Dereck Lively throughout his nascent career. In fact, the promising young center has played in only 98 of 240 (41%) possible regular season games since being selected with the number 10 pick in 2023. The bulk of his missed games stacked up this past season, when he only logged time in seven contests before undergoing season-ending foot surgery.
Lost in the mix of the NBA Draft Lottery, the hiring of Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz and the firing of now-former
head coach Jason Kidd, was an update provided by Lively himself. Lively joined Myles Turner and Breanna Stewart on the Game Recognize Game podcast to discuss a range of topics, beginning with his recovery process.
Seen throughout the season with some combination of walking boot and scooter, and even sporting a cane for a while, Lively offers the good news of having jettisoned all of that. “No boots, no crutches, just normal walking shoes,” he said when asked about his current status, following that up with “it’s solely just getting back to building my lower leg strength.”
That last part sounds concerning, but underscores what Lively has been through in a long recovery process. He has not seen game action since December, so a measured process to his return is to be expected. Fortunately, he has over four months before next season tips off and it sounds as though he is well on his way to putting all of this behind him.
Lively is certainly on the Cooper Flagg timeline, but whether or not he is part of Ujiri’s long-term vision is yet to be determined. Lively is up for a contract extension prior to next season, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Does Dallas package him up as part of a rebuild, or do they have confidence in a return to form and attempt to lock down his services on a favorable deal as he comes off a lengthy injury hiatus?
When healthy, he is an exciting, dynamic player that can bring a defensive presence and offensive lob threat (with a burgeoning three-point shot?) that can help the Mavs. Hopefully he will find a more permanent return to action right here with the Mavericks.
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