{"id":828314,"date":"2026-07-28T03:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828314\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T03:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:59:10","slug":"mavericks-dereck-lively-ii-discussing-rookie-scale-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828314\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks, Dereck Lively II Discussing Rookie Scale Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Mavericks and center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/livelde01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-07-27_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dereck Lively II<\/a> have been discussing a potential rookie scale extension, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheSteinLine\/status\/2081847268815053230\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dereck-Lively-II-vert-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-455682\"  \/>Stein cautions that the contract talks are at an \u201cearly stage,\u201d and notes that the deadline for a deal being completed is the day before the 2026\/27 regular season begins in October. Lively will be on track for restricted free agency next summer if an extension isn\u2019t reached.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an interesting development, as the 22-year-old big man has been plagued by right foot problems for the better part of 19 months. Lively missed extended time in 2024\/25 due to a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/01\/mavs-lively-has-fracture-in-foot-expected-to-miss-2-3-months.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stress fracture<\/a> in his foot\/ankle area, then underwent <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/07\/mavs-dereck-lively-undergoes-right-foot-procedure.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surgery<\/a> on his right foot last July.<\/p>\n<p>Although he was cleared to return for opening night in 2025\/26, Lively continued to be plagued by health problems, missing a nine-game stretch in October and November due to a right knee sprain, then battling nagging discomfort in his right foot. That lingering pain caused him to undergo <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/12\/mavs-dereck-lively-to-undergo-season-ending-foot-surgery.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">season-ending surgery<\/a> in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/12\/injury-notes-warriors-antetokounmpo-suggs-flagg-lively.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lively was limited to just seven games played last season after appearing in 36 contests in 2024\/25. He made the All-Rookie second team in 2023\/24 after averaging 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 74.5% from the field in 55 games, including 42 starts (23.5 minutes per game).<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Lively also played a key bench role in Dallas\u2019 run to the NBA Finals in 2024. He averaged 7.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 21 playoff games that year (22.0 MPG).<\/p>\n<p>Lively, who was selected 12th overall in the 2023 draft after one college season at Duke, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2026\/07\/mavs-notes-johnson-may-green-lively-de-larrea.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said<\/a> at the end of June that he was out of walking boot but that he hadn\u2019t been cleared to run or jump yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went from being on a scooter, to two crutches, to one crutch, to just a boot, and now to be able to walk,\u201d Lively said, per <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dallashoopsjournal.com\/dereck-lively-ii-injury-update-june\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m really just thankful for the small milestones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lively also brushed aside any concerns about his durability going forward, Afseth noted last month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019ve got to take what the fans or the public have to say about me, that I\u2019m brittle or all that, cool,\u201d Lively said. \u201cBut whenever I come back, don\u2019t forget who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mavericks and center Dereck Lively II have been discussing a potential rookie scale extension, according to Marc&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,204147,590,85],"class_list":["post-828314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dereck-lively","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}