Dereck Lively being this good already was one of the biggest surprises this season. I would say he’s the 3rd most important player on the mavs and he’s only a rookie. He reminds me so much of tyson chandler excited to see him and luka play with each other for the next decade.

Everyone is saying the celtics are going to destroy the mavericks. It’s going to be the other way around. People seriously don’t see how overrated JT and JB are, they will soon.

Him and Gafford being switched with each other keeps them fresh an has helped the Mavericks immensely.

Dereck Lively will develop into something like Tim Duncan. The Dallas Mavericks will become the first dynasty of this generation of basketball.

i think this shows that people should understand that rookies or just regular hooper's need to understand, you don't need to be a unicorn to be a valueable player

Luka last night dishes out an assist to Lively for a dunk and yells "YOU GUYS ARE F*

He's improved so much just during these playoffs, he's learning fast. It's crazy to think of what he will be in a few years

I literally had no concept of this dude being 7'1, hes so damn fluid i simply assumed he was a 6'8 6'9, damn

Tyson Chandler is the Mavs big man player development coach and did a great job with Lively

This kid is impressive. If Dallas wins, I figure that they’ll be the first team in 30 years to do so while featuring a rookie as one of their top five players (1994 Rockets - Cassell). I’m a Celtics fan and I have Boston in six, but best of luck to the Mavericks and their fans and may the best team win.

A couple of things you didn't specifically mention:

Gafford and Lively will be the reason the mavericks win against the celtics!

Lively is so valuable already, his + - is remarkable and he went 16/16 in the series against Minnesota ... pulverized an old NBA record with that!

lively is overshadowed because of his numbers but people forget he doesn’t even start

Joker raised the bar so much on Bigs... we forget that being good at just one thing is an asset to most teams

I was very optimistic with Lively but this was nowhere near what I predicted. What a home run pick up by the Mavs. Just incredible!

So glad he’s on our team 💪🙏🙌

It was a bit of a joke that he didn’t make the all NBA rookie 1st team. A lot of people were sleeping on Lively! Mavs loss in game 4 without him only to come back to a blow out the TWolves should show everyone how important he is to the Mavs this year

Love the Lively breakdown!

Given Lively's minutes, his contribution to the team is even more amazing