After coming off a season in which they lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last June, the Mavericks are now already on vacation in mid-April.
With Luka Doncic no longer being a Maverick, not only has it changed the trajectory of the whole franchise, but it has also changed the trajectory of certain players.
Dereck Lively II is not the same player without Luka Doncic
On June 22, 2023, the Mavericks made a trade on draft night to acquire Dereck Lively II. He was the perfect fit to play with Doncic. A 7-footer that was a lob threat, a pick-and-roll threat, and could guard the interior. None of those skills have changed, but offensively, he is rarely able to show those skills and attributes anymore due to the trade.
This was displayed on Friday night, as he finished with zero points against the Grizzlies, and his offensive game has been minimized ever since Doncic was traded.
With himself and Anthony Davis sharing the court together, his game has changed and will continue to change. The negative part about all of this is that it's changing in a downward manner. Lively II isn't the kind of offensive player who creates shots for himself. On top of that, he hasn't consistently proven he can shoot jumpers either.
With the Davis-Lively II lineup on the floor, it seems as if Mavericks GM, Nico Harrison, envisioned a similar one-two punch as to what the Celtics have with Kristaps Porizingis and Al Horford, what the Thunder have with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, and lastly what the Cavaliers have with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. The issue with that is all of those duos have bigs that can make threes at an efficient rate, while also being able to create for themselves.
Now, if we're being fair, Lively II hasn't played a game yet where he looks fully healthy or even off of his minutes restriction after suffering a stress fracture in his ankle earlier this season. Next season will really prove whether or not Lively II will be able to fit in a system where he shares the floor with another big man.
The same goes for Daniel Gafford. Although Gafford is able to create his own shots a tad bit better than Lively II, we haven't seen enough of him on the floor with Davis to know if these double-big lineups will end up working out in the Mavericks' favor.
If the Mavericks want to play these big lineups, it's in their best interest that they make a trade this summer for an elite scorer and facilitator, especially someone who can get Lively II involved offensively again. Dante Exum, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Brandon Williams can only do so much on the floor while Kyrie Irving is recovering from his ACL injury, and they need someone who is great at playing with bigs and can reignite a spark within the offense again.
