On Saturday, Mavs rookie center Dereck Lively II played well in Game 6 against the Thunder. He scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Dallas defeated OKC to advance to the Western Conference finals.
Lively’s had a solid rookie season, and on Monday, the NBA announced that Lively had been named to the 2023-24 NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
He becomes the Maverick to earn All-Rookie Team honors since Luka Doncic in 2018-19.
This season, the 20-year-old averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 23.5 minutes per game in 55 games (42 starts) for Dallas.
Lively is grateful to be honored for his performance this season.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Lively said after practice. “You know, coming into my first season, I never imagined my season to be like this, never imagine the position I’d be in or to have this much success. So I’m grateful, and I’m just trying to be able to just focus on what we got coming forward.”
The Philadelphia native etched his name in NBA history, recording the highest field goal percentage by a rookie (min. 100 field goal attempts). Among players with at least 250 field goal attempts, Lively boasts the second-highest field goal percentage in NBA history, just behind Mitchell Robinson’s 76.1 FG% in 2021-22.
As the 12th overall selection in the 2024 draft, Lively made an immediate impact on the Mavericks. He became the first rookie in team history to record at least 1.4 blocks per game and the third Mavericks rookie to record at least 77 blocks in his debut season, a testament to his defensive prowess.
Among all rookies in 2023-24, Lively ranked third in total rebounding (6.9 rpg), second in offensive rebounding (2.5 orpg), fourth in blocks (1.4 bpg) and led all rookies in field goal percentage (74.7 FG%).
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