Advertisements
On Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks finalized their draft-day trade with the Oklahoma City
Dallas acquired the draft rights to 12th overall pick Dereck Lively II from Oklahoma City in exchange for the draft rights to 10th overall pick Cason Wallace and forward Dāvis Bertāns.
With the deal, the Mavs shed Bertans’ contract, who is scheduled to make $17 million next season.
Lively, 19, was an early-entry candidate to this year’s draft after spending one season at Duke. In his lone season with the Blue Devils, he averaged 5.2 points (.658 FG%), 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game across 34 appearances. Lively was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and the ACC All-Defensive Team.
“We really love Dereck’s combination of size, shot blocking ability and defensive versatility,” General Manager Nico Harrison said in a press release. “As one of the youngest players in the draft we are looking forward to Dereck growing with the team and fostering his development.”
In his lone year at Duke, Lively blocked 82 shots – only five shy of the NCAA lead. With a 7-4 wingspan, he led all Division I freshmen in blocks and ranked second in the ACC (eighth nationally).
The Philadelphia native was ranked as the No. 1 overall player in the ESPN 100 for the class of 2022 as a five-star center out of Westtown School in West Chester, PA.
Bertans, 30, was originally acquired by Dallas along with guard Spencer Dinwiddie from Washington in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis and a second round pick on Feb. 10, 2022. He averaged 4.8 points and 1.6 assists in 67 games for the Mavericks.