Mavericks fans are begging for a Dereck Lively shift — but it’s turning into a myth

The young big man's project will be more long-term than any of us thought.

Jared A’Latorre

Dallas Mavericks v Miami Heat / Rich Storry/GettyImages

The Dallas Mavericks made a home run move on draft night in 2023 when Cason Wallace was traded for Dereck Lively II. While Wallace is probably having the last laugh with the Oklahoma City Thunder's first championship victory, the Mavs made the right move because they were badly needing size. Christian Wood had sky-high expectations to be the next star big man next to Luka Doncic, but flopped badly. The coaching staff is to blame, too, but Wood never really showed up during the 2022-23 season.

Lively II established himself as a paint defender and a lob threat with Doncic, and now he's going to have to do the same with Cooper Flagg. Lively II will have no problem adjusting to that, because Flagg is already looking to become one of the greatest wing passers this game has ever seen. At the beginning of his second season, Lively II revealed that he was trying to add 3-pointers as a new tool to his resume. Fans are going to have to come to the hard realization that this won't be coming as quickly as we once thought.

Lively II has simply not been on the court consistently due to injury over his first two seasons, which in the grand scheme of things, could lead Harrison to end up shipping him off at some point, but that seems to be unlikely, as Lively II is a young piece to Dallas' championship puzzle. He's still a young guy with plenty of talent, but let's just say it's going to take years for his promise of being a floor spacer to be fulfilled.

Lively II shooting threes won't happen anytime soon

Lively II's first NBA 3-pointer came in the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. It only seemed like much to a few people, but for fans, it was an eye-popping sight with perhaps more to come from the young man out of Duke. Even though Lively II isn't a shooter at heart, he was hoping to expand this role to new heights, but he simply hasn't been on the court long enough to install this part in his game.

To take a page out of the Memphis Grizzlies’ book, Zach Edey has gotten chances to get open looks from deep, and he's hit a few from outside, but that's because the Grizzlies are a team with no limits on who can shoot the rock. The Mavs have way too many ball handlers and shooters as it is to allow Lively II to jack up threes. The Mavs have about 10 guys before Lively II that will pop it from deep, and it's not exactly necessary to install a deep shot into Lively II's game right now.

There are bigger fish to fry right now in Lively II. For starters, he has to stay on the court. He has to rest, as it is with having offseason surgery, something Mavs fans weren't too pleased to hear about. Whenever Lively II takes the court, he can be a monster blocking shots and protecting the paint, but he simply has to be there for his guys. It sounds simple enough, but it's far from having him jack up a bunch of threes when he doesn't have to.

Jared A’Latorre

Jared is the Site Expert of Sport DFW, and oversees Dallas sports all the time. He also spent time as a Senior Contributor to The Smoking Cuban, The Landry Hat and Gig Em' Gazette. His work has been featured on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports and MSN. He also covered various sports at Oklahoma State and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Media from Oklahoma State. He's done play-by-play radio broadcasting in North Central Oklahoma and currently does play-by-play radio broadcasting for high school football in North Texas. Jared is also a co-host for Grizzlies Digest, covering the Memphis Grizzlies. In his free time, Jared loves watching sports, spending time with family and friends and watching anything Billy Bob Thornton related.