Dereck Lively II ‘Threatens’ Mavericks Locker Room Chemistry With His Social Media Jabs At Dwight Powell
Dallas Mavericks rookie Dereck Lively II may have unknowingly started a feud with teammate Dwight Powell. The first-round pick reposted an X-graphic (formerly called Twitter) mocking Powell and former Mavericks star JaVale McGee.
While the graphic highlighted Lively’s completion percentage, one of his best attributes, the caption read: “We used to have Dwight Powell and Javale McGee as our centers. I’m crying real man’s tears.”, he was directly trolling his current teammate.
The rookie probably reposted the chart without reading the title, but a mistake like that could affect team harmony.
As of this writing, Lively has not fixed her error and the post is still up. in his account. While the mistake of reposting may not have been forced, the decision to leave it will certainly irritate Powell, who has already seen his playing time decrease by 1/4 compared to last year due to the emergence of Lively.
The Mavericks have won nine of their last ten games and are emerging as a force to be reckoned with heading into the playoffs, but little instances like these could prove detrimental to their goal of bringing a championship to Dallas. While the team is unsure of Doncic’s consistency, going forward they will need all of his weapons. Lively should have been adamant about rectifying his mistake, but surprisingly she still hasn’t fixed it.
The shocking campaign of Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford
While Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are undoubtedly the Mavericks’ two best offensive options, the team’s centers, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford have been tremendous at exploiting the holes left by opposing teams trying to mitigate the threat of the duo of Super stars. Lively and Gafford average 8.8 and 11.8 points, respectively. While those numbers don’t stand out, it’s their conversion rate that has made them impressive.
Since the All-Star break, the duo has been the league’s best finishers.
Gafford’s 88.2 and Lively’s 77.5 field goal percentages rank first and second in the league. They have been instrumental in helping the Mavericks rebound from their midseason slump and climb to sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
Dallas will likely avoid the play-in tournament and could climb as high as fourth in the Western Conference standings if it continues on its current trajectory and the Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Pelicans make a mistake in the final stretch of their regular-season schedule. The Mavericks have peaked at the right time and could secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a strong finish to their regular-season campaign.
Regardless of where they finish in the standings, the Mavericks are among the most dangerous teams in the West. With Doncic and Irving leading the charge and impact players like Gafford and Lively playing their roles to perfection, they will be a tough matchup for any team in either conference. The Mavericks have emerged as the dark horses to win the championship, and as long as their team synergy remains intact, they could overcome the odds, like they did in 2011.
