Mavericks center Dereck Lively II to have season-ending foot surgery
Lively, a Westtown School graduate, is set for season-ending surgery on his ailing right foot, another setback for the promising but oft-injured player.
DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II is set for season-ending surgery on his ailing right foot.
The team said Wednesday the surgery will be performed by Dr. James Calder in London. The Mavericks previously said Lively was seeking multiple medical opinions as discomfort in the foot lingered.
He had a procedure on the same foot in the offseason.
Lively’s final game of the season was a 118-115 victory over New Orleans on Nov. 21. He then sat the second night of a back-to-back after missing 10 of the previous 14 games because of a knee injury. The foot issue arose after his return.
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The 21-year-old Lively, a former Westtown School standout, will have missed 148 of a possible 246 games by the end of his third season.
Lively missed 27 games as a rookie but was healthy for the postseason as the Mavericks made their first trip to the NBA Finals since winning the franchise’s only championship in 2011. Dallas lost to Boston in five games.
Injuries sidelined Lively for 46 games last season. The former Duke star and 2023 first-round pick ended up missing 75 games in 2024-25.
When he’s healthy, Lively has been productive. At 7-foot-1, he was a strong pick-and-roll partner with Luka Dončić before the Mavericks traded their young superstar last season.
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Lively has barely had a chance to play with fellow big man Anthony Davis, former general manager Nico Harrison’s target in the Dončić trade. Harrison was fired last month with the Mavericks off to a slow start in their first full season without Dončić, and the oft-injured Davis was sidelined at the time.
Lively also didn’t get to share much of fellow Duke alum Cooper Flagg’s rookie season after the Mavericks won the draft lottery and the right to take Flagg No. 1 overall.
Lively has averaged 8.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 98 games.