Dereck Lively II recently became the first Dallas Mavericks player to earn an NBA Rising Stars Game selection since Luka Doncic in 2019 and 2020. Lively, who's dealing with a nasal fracture, learned of the honor while battling his injury. Still, he is “grateful” for the selection.
“Sadly, yeah,” Lively said on Friday of finding out about making the game while being sidelined. “But you gotta be able to be grateful. Being able to be fortunate enough, being able to be given this chance is amazing… At the beginning of the season if you told me I'd be able to get this far, I would be like, ‘no way.' I wouldn't imagine it. So just being able to know that I'm going to this game, I'm excited.”
Mavericks: Dereck Lively II deserves the honor without question
Lively is more than deserving of the honor. He's currently averaging 9.2 points per game on 73.9 percent field goal shooting. He's also recording 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest.
Lively's impact on the Mavericks has been immense. Dallas has found their center of the future in Lively. Despite trade rumors swirling around the team, the Mavs have no plans of making Lively available in trade talks.
As aforementioned, Lively is the first Mavs player since Luka Doncic to make the Rising Stars Game. He addressed discussing the game with Doncic.
“I've only been able to pick the brains of… Only Luka so far. Being able to talk about the Rising Stars Game,” Lively said. “He just said… ‘Go out there and have a great time.'”
Lively said he also plans to ask Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd about the game.
“I definitely gotta ask coach Kidd about that too. But just being able to be in this position, I'm just grateful for people to vote for me, I'm just grateful for people to just acknowledge me.”
So is Lively looking forward to meeting or playing with anyone in particular?
“I'm just going in there looking to meet everybody,” Lively stated. “I wouldn't say there's one person I'm going to look for. But, I just want to be able to try to ask people how their seasons going, ask them what have they learned. What ups and downs have they gone through so that I can pick the brains of people and try to get a different understanding of a different viewpoint.”
Lively will be able to learn a lot from the game. He is set to play alongside the best young players in the league. Lively's season has flown under-the-radar to an extent with rookies such as Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren stealing headlines, so playing in the NBA Rising Stars Game will give Lively the chance to put the NBA world on notice.
In all reality, though, everyone should already be watching Dereck Lively II. He's one of the best young centers in the game and his ceiling is high to say the least.
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