In his recent appearance on The Young Man and The Three Podcast, Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively confessed that he firmly believed that he would enter the NBA as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that originally drafted him in last year’s draft.
Lively submitted his candidacy to the 2023 NBA Draft following a promising one-year collegiate leg for the Duke Blue Devils.
After 11 players were called ahead of him in the first round, Lively realized that his dream finally came to fruition as he was selected by the Thunder for the No. 12 pick.
Yet a few seconds later after he emerged to the stage and was greeted by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, reports revealed that the Thunder and the Mavericks landed a trade transaction, sending the young big man to Texas at the expense of Cason Wallace and Davis Bertans.
Lively explained how the situation went down, and how he learned of the change of course that would impact his career.
He said: “After No. 9 gets drafted, Dallas has No. 10 and they drafted Cason [Wallace]. I’m like, okay. I would have been grateful if I would be able to went to Dallas, but that doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to.
“And as the 11th pick gets started, someone tapped my shoulder and said OKC and Dallas are going to be on a trade. It was actually Rich Paul. I was like, ‘What does that mean?’, and he said, ‘What do you think that means?’. I’m like, don’t say it until it happens. I don’t want to hear nothing until what happens.
“They finally said my name for the 12th pick [by the Thunder]. … I definitely thought I was going to OKC.”
“As soon as Cason got picked for No. 10, I’m like, okay. The only other places that could probably take me are OKC, New Orleans, and etcetera,” Lively II recounted.
“You literally going right and then two seconds later, you’re going left. You’re going straight, and then you’re going backwards. It’s just so many thought process going on in five minutes.”
That Thunder-Mavericks trade was simply a blessing in disguise for Lively II.
As he entered Dallas, the 20-year-old was instantly identified as the franchise’s center of the future. The Mavericks are deeply invested in his potential to become a major piece in winning a championship for the Luka Doncic era. Lively II enjoyed attention and love across the Dallas fanbase, averaging 8.8 points, 6.9 boards, and 1.4 blocks in his rookie campaign as he went on to help the Mavericks enter the 2024 NBA Finals.
If the trade never happened, it would be difficult to expect Lively to attain the same success he’s gaining from Dallas in Oklahoma City. As such, his growth would be stagnant as the team will certainly prioritize Chet Holmgren’s play at the center spot.
As he now continues to thrive as a Maverick, Lively II can only prove to OKC that they made a wrong move by letting him go to join their Conference rival.
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