Dallas Basketball

Mavs' Dereck Lively II Joins Legend Hakeem Olajuwon on Rare NBA Rookie List

Dallas Mavericks rookie Dereck Lively dominated the Chicago Bulls in his return from a one-game absence, putting up number that haven't been seen by an NBA rookie since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984.

Dalton Trigg

Mavs' Dereck Lively II Joins Legend Hakeem Olajuwon on Rare NBA Rookie List
Mavs' Dereck Lively II Joins Legend Hakeem Olajuwon on Rare NBA Rookie List /
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After missing one game due to personal reasons, rookie big man Dereck Lively II made his return to action on Monday night as the Dallas Mavericks dominated the Chicago Bulls, 127-92.

In the win, Lively finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks while shooting 11-12 from the field and being a +22 in 20 minutes off the bench.

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Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The 20-year-old center became the first rookie to reach or surpass those statistical benchmarks since NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon did it in 1984.

“Just being able to find open spots," Lively said in his postgame interview on Bally Sports Southwest. "Everyone is going to be focused on Luka and Kai. That’s when the bigs find their little holes. That’s where we get our easy dunks, easy dump-offs, and easy finishes.”

Mavs head coach noted that Lively and generational superstar Luka Doncic have had "trust since day one," and that's only going to continue as the young big man continues to gain NBA experience. The future for Lively is bright, but the present is pretty bright as well. At 37-28, the Mavs are riding a three-game winning streak and are creeping up on the sixth-seed in the West standings. We'll see if Lively and Co. can avoid the Play-In Tournament in these last 17 games.

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Dalton Trigg
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.

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