Dereck Lively II was the wrong choice for the Dallas Mavericks

A night to remember for any young aspiring star is the NBA Draft. For NBA teams, the more picks you have on draft night, the better your chances of landing a franchise player. That was exactly the game for the Dallas Mavericks.

It was clear the Mavericks were one of the winners from the draft. Dallas initially only had one pick, which turned into three players by the end of the night. One of those was Dereck Lively II.

Dereck Lively II Was the Wrong Choice for the Dallas Mavericks

This is in no way an insult to Lively’s potential. His offense needs to be polished, but Lively entered the draft as arguably the best true big man not named Victor Wembenyama.

Lively also finds himself in a situation where he gets to play with one of the NBA’s top guards in Luka Doncic. It was a clear need for Dallas with Christian Wood being a free agent, so what seems to be the issue with drafting Lively?

The way the league has developed, there’s really no need for a true big man anymore. All centers can shoot threes, which is exactly what Doncic would need to help space the floor.

Lively shot an abysmal 15.4% from the three-point line in college. In fact, he was not known for his scoring abilities at all. His defense kept his name afloat as he eventually became a lottery pick.

Lively is an NBA talent, but with the way the Mavericks are built around Doncic, it looks to be a recipe for disaster. Dallas could look to some former championship teams built around players with the skill sets of Doncic.