Dallas eyes a contract extension for Dereck Lively II, signaling a shift to prioritize the defensive anchor who fueled their Finals run alongside Doncic and Irving.
DALLAS - The short version of the story? The Dallas Mavs have an abundance of capable centers.
No, there is not a Victor Wembanyama in the bunch. In fact, combine all of them together and they couldn't carry the jock of the rival San Antonio Spurs young superstar.
But there is some talent here in Big D. And it seems Dallas' front office is recognizing that with the revelation that the Mavs are now talking to one of them about a contract extension.
Most Mavericks fans remember Dereck Lively II's rookie playoff run in the same way and it usually involves a lob. He was the rim-running finisher who shot a comically high percentage from the field, caught everything Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving threw at him and did it all as a 20-year-old in the NBA Finals. That version of the story is true, but it undersells what made him so valuable.
There are highlight reels that are all defense. Lively appears as a brick wall at the rim, meeting drivers head-on and swatting shots with real aggression instead of simply contesting them. There are chase-down blocks in transition, the kind that require both length and a relentless motor to run someone down from behind.
Most impressive are the possessions of genuine on-ball defense, including sequences in which he switches out and contests 3-pointers against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the NBA Finals. A rookie center holding up on the perimeter against that level of wing talent is not normal.
The numbers support what the film shows. Lively posted a 109.0 defensive rating across the 2024 playoffs and Dallas as a team jumped from 21st in defensive rating in 2022-23 to sixth in 2023-24 in the regular season. The center position was the biggest personnel upgrade driving that leap. Lively averaged 7.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21 postseason appearances while playing roughly 22 minutes per game.
He did it while coming off the bench behind Daniel Gafford for much of the run.
It's probably time to get Gafford out of his way and let him play ... and per Marc Stein, Dallas seemingly has that view via the contract extension talk.
Regarding Lively ...
The advanced numbers are where things get striking. Lively finished with the highest net rating on the entire Dallas roster during that playoff run. In the 261 minutes he shared the floor with Doncic and Irving, the Mavericks outscored opponents by 19.7 points per 100 possessions, the best mark of any of the 178 three-man combinations leaguewide that logged at least 175 minutes that postseason. That is not a rounding error or a small-sample fluke. That was the best trio in basketball for two months.
His peak came in the Western Conference finals against Minnesota, where he averaged 9.5 points on a perfect 16-of-16 from the field, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks across five games. Going a full series without missing a shot gets the attention, but the defensive work against a Timberwolves frontcourt built to punish smaller lineups mattered just as much.
That is why the current injury situation is so frustrating. Lively is more than seven months removed from season-ending surgery on his right foot, the third procedure on that foot in roughly a year, and as of late June he still could not run or jump. He played seven games last season and has appeared in only 98 of 185 possible regular-season games in his career. Asked recently about a timeline, he declined to give one.
The ceiling has not gone anywhere, though. Lively was 20 years old during that Finals run. He is 22 now and Dallas is building a defense around Cooper Flagg's length and versatility. Pairing that with a healthy Lively is exactly the frontcourt coach Dusty May's staff can make progress with.
The 2024 tape shows what that could look like. The only thing standing between Lively and that version of himself is his availability. ... well, and a new contract.
