When Dallas Mavericks returns to NBA Finals again in 2023-2024 the team will have a very important change in the starting lineup of players next season.
However, it is not the signing of Klay Thompson per se that in itself as already quite a news.
The Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd will only allow Daniel Gafford to take a rest during the Texans’ game and replace him with the center Dereck Lively.
Gafford has now established himself as a Mavericks’ starter after coming to the team via a trade with the Washington Wizards.
But, to some extent, when Lively joined the team’s performance increased, primarily in playoffs.
However that is not exactly surprising news considering Lively is included in the starting five.
Which is why the young pivot was the starting player of the Mavericks in the beginning of 2023-2024.
The issue is that he was not warmed up yet and so he wasted too much energy either through unrealised that he was not warmed up and so he wasted time more often than not and committed many mistakes or fouls.
But when Gafford joined, it was easy to see that he has developed from the previous season.
For comparison’s sake; if the young man averaged 42 games in the starting lineup of his rookie NBA season, tallying 8.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, but importantly averaging almost 3 fouls a night.
Then, when he went to the bench, even playing five minutes less, he had 9.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and only 1.77 fouls.
In other words, Lively raised his production in the season in which Gafford clinched the prize.
Kidd believed the player was much more consistent as he became wiser to what he required.
In the playoffs, for example, he scored against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns at that moment.
