Dereck Lively II Once Again Proves He Can Go Toe-to-Toe with Victor Wembanyama

The Dallas Mavericks completed a regular-season sweep against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, and Dereck Lively II once again showed that he’s capable of matching up with fellow rookie Victor Wembanyama.

Dalton Trigg | Mar 20, 2024

Dereck Lively II Once Again Proves He Can Go Toe-to-Toe with Victor Wembanyama /

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The Dallas Mavericks completed a regular-season sweep of the San Antonio Spurs for just the second time in franchise history with a 113-107 win on Tuesday night. It was an ugly game against a lottery-bound team, but at this point in the year, the Mavs will take any kind of win they can get.

Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama, who was the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, has been incredible in his first season. The Rookie of the Year candidate is averaging 20.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.5 blocks and 1.3 steals. But on Tuesday, the Mavs forced the 7-4 big man into an off game, as he finished with just 12 points on 3-13 shooting from the field in 32 minutes.

Although Wembanyama has received most of the hype this season, Mavs rookie center Dereck Lively II, who was the No. 12 pick in last year’s draft, has proven that he can hold his own against the 7-4 Frenchman. Lively finished with 12 points, five rebounds and one block while shooting 5-7 from the field in half the amount of floor time Wembanyama had on Tuesday.

In 50 games, Lively is averaging 9.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 75.3 percent from the field — and now, he has a 3-0 head-to-head record against Wembanyama. Obviously, being teammates with future Hall-of-Fame guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving helps Lively a lot, but his constant high energy and high basketball IQ has also helped him have more of an impact on winning in his rookie season than Wembanyama has for the Spurs.

Mavs' Kyrie Irving Gives Major Praise to Spurs' Victor Wembanyama as DPOY Candidate

When it comes to being a player to lead a franchise, Wembanyama has the physical tools to accomplish that feat as his career progresses. But Lively will have more early-season success in the win column, as he's shown he's capable of being an elite role player alongside two superstar guards. Pair that with Lively sharing his center minutes with fifth-year big man Daniel Gafford, and the sky is the limit for the Mavs with the postseason right around the corner ... and that's something that can't be said for the Spurs this season.

Published Mar 20, 2024

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.