Dallas Mavericks big man Dereck Lively II remains out after suffering a nasal fracture when Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. accidentally struck him in the face on Jan. 29th. In turn, Lively had surgery to fix the issue and is inching closer to a return.
In the meantime, Lively appeared on the Mavericks' broadcast during their game against the Washington Wizards, and he talked about what it's like living with his mom while being an NBA player:
“Being able to go out there and talk about, ‘Man I’m living with my mom!’… I’m getting home cooked meals and she’s doing my laundry.”
Mavs rookie Dereck Lively on living with his mom while playing in the NBA 🙌pic.twitter.com/cjBPlKTRm2
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 13, 2024
Said the Mavericks rookie, “That's the plan. That's a great question. Being able to go out there and talk about, ‘Man I’m living with my mom!’ Being able to have home-cooked meals. Being able to have somebody to talk to no matter what time of day it is. Being able to know that I got my mom there. There's sometimes she's doing my laundry. She's just making sure that I keep my head on straight. So I'm just grateful for my mom.”
Lively and his mother are famously close after a childhood that saw the Mavericks star's father die of an overdose when he was young, and his mother fight an eight-year battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Lively recently became the first Dallas Mavericks player to earn an NBA Rising Stars Game selection since Luka Doncic in 2019 and 2020. Lively learned of the honor while battling his injury. Still, he is “grateful” for the selection.
“Sadly, yeah,” Lively said on Friday of finding out about making the game while being sidelined. “But you gotta be able to be grateful. Being able to be fortunate enough, being able to be given this chance is amazing… At the beginning of the season if you told me I'd be able to get this far, I would be like, ‘no way.' I wouldn't imagine it. So just being able to know that I'm going to this game, I'm excited.”
Follow Us
Subscribe