Dallas, TX
Dereck Lively II ‘Grateful’ for Impactful Rookie Season with Dallas Mavericks

DALLAS — When Dereck Lively II was first drafted, he did not expect to achieve the results he’s provided the Dallas Mavericks. Many felt he’d take time to develop, potentially requiring some time in the G League. He became an indispensable contributor before the regular season even began.
Lively averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 55 games, shooting 74.7% from the floor. His production for a 50-win team earned him a spot on the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team. He’s continued to provide a substantial impact in the postseason, averaging 8.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists despite coming off the bench with a historic +87 plus-minus, trailing only Manu Ginobili (+191) among rookies during a postseason run.
“Coming into my first season, I never imagined my season would be like this,” Lively said. “I never imagined the position I’d be in or to have this much success. So I’m grateful. And I’m just trying to focus on what we have going forward.”
The impact Lively provides the Mavericks has completely changed the franchise. He’s been an explosive lob threat and overall highly efficient play finisher. He’s a smart decision-maker in short roll situations along with showing continually improving ability to handle scoring in those situations. He’s a very talkative leader as a defensive anchor who does the dirty work with a lot of energy in the paint, crashing both the boarsd at a high level on offense and defense. He’s everything the organization could have asked for in recent years to pair with Luka Doncic and now Kyrie Irving.
Lively was grateful to earn his regular season honor, but as he’s continued to show in the postseason, his impact this season has been among the very best among his rookie peers. He is focused on helping the Mavericks contend for a championship over individual accolades or statistics.
“They (voters) are going to look in the regular season of who’s making the most noise, who had the most eyes on them,” Lively said. “But no matter if I have 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 blocks or zero points, zero rebounds, zero blocks, zero assists, I just want to win.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m first-team all-rookie, I don’t care about all that,” Lively explained. “I just want to go out there and get the W.”
Part of the rookie experience involves the rookie wall that many talk about. Lively admitted he felt it in November or December given all of the adjustments that are required not just on the court, but regarding lifestyle. He clearly handled it well as he maintained an instrumental contributor.
“Man, I hit the wall when the season started. November, I probably hit the wall. December, January, let’s be honest, but it’s basketball. You can get tired,” Lively admitted.
“You’re going to be tired mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally with all the things going on with all the media going on,” Lively elaborated. “If you go outside, no matter if you want to be seen or not, it’s kind of hard because you are labeled as a Mavs player, and you’re a basketball player.”
As Lively continues to be an impact player in the playoffs, he leans on the advice of his mother, Kathy Drysdale, who recently passed away. Lively mentioned a phrase, “sink or swim,” that his mother would use throughout his childhood to handle difficult situations.
“I feel like it comes back to my mom’s own saying, and this goes back to when I was a baby: sink or swim,” Lively said. “You’re going to be in high-intensity moments, do-or-die moments, as you could call them. You’re either going to float, stay alive, and figure out how to learn and adapt, or you’re going to sink and fall to the floor. No one wants to sink; everyone wants to stay afloat.”
READ MORE: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving Tandem Instrumental in Deep Playoff Run
The Oklahoma City Thunder tried to intentionally send Lively to the free throw line in some late-game situations during the Mavericks’ Western Conference semifinal series. Lively mentioned how he didn’t view it as a challenge from the opponent. Instead, he would lean on his mother’s voice when he stepped up to the free-throw line. He shot 50.6% from the free throw line in the regular season but raised it to 66.7% against the Thunder.
“It wasn’t even a challenge from them. I heard my mom in my ear saying, ‘If you miss it, you suck.’ So you just have to step up and make those easy shots,” Lively said. “If they’re going to give you free shots, you have to make them. Whenever you miss them, it just makes you want to get in the gym and work on it that much more.”
Lively’s next challenge will be against a star-studded frontcourt with four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns when taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. Interestingly enough, Lively’s first exposure to NBA basketball involved
” I got to be able to be more sound whenever there’s a, you know, he’s been what multiple time defensive player of the year. And they have a lot, they have a lot of size for multiple, multiple positions.. You got to be able to learn to be able to adapt, got to be able to find the holes and what they have in the defense, and just be able to try to come out on top.”
Lively has respect for the impact Gobert provides defensively, particularly emphasizing the difficulty of account for his timing, positioning, and wingspan.
“I would say his timing, his positioning, his arm length, and his being able to just understand who’s coming,” Lively said of Gobert. “If they’re going to come down the lane and you’re a right-hand finisher, he’s going to sit on your right hand, knowing that you’re not going to go to your left. Or if he knows that you have a lot of athleticism, he’s going to meet you one step earlier, so you can’t load up as far.
“Just being able to know that he’s been doing this for a lot of years is going to make it that much harder, but it’s going to make it that much more fun to learn,” Lively explained.
One reporter asked Lively since Kyrie can go left or right, Gobert can’t block Kyrie’s shot, right? Lively replied: “Good luck.
Lively admitted he’s been trying all season to figure out how to block Irving’s shot in practice: “I’ve been trying to figure out how to block his shot all year, and I haven’t had much success. Knowing we have Kyrie Irving there will make him think. That’s where I’m going to try to find little holes in the defense.”

Dallas, TX
Jim Schutze: A tree hugger’s lament for Dallas industry

Park advocates notched a victory before the Dallas City Council this week; an industrial developer took a hit; and I’m trying to figure out why I, a tree-hugger from way back, am not smiling.
The loser of the day was businessman and political consultant Brandon Johnson, on the short end of a narrow vote he needed to build a concrete batch plant in a heavily industrial zone near Walnut Hill Lane and Interstate 35E in northwest Dallas. The winners were advocates for nearby MoneyGram Soccer Park, 120 acres containing 19 soccer fields and a pavilion built with city money 10 years ago.
Not actually having gone to med school, I was nevertheless persuaded by testimony that it’s bad for kids to engage in vigorous athletic activity in a place where they are likely to suck in large amounts of what scientists call inhalable particulate matter — what I would call concrete dust.
So, the vote was no to particulates, yes to kids. So why no smile?
Start with this: The place the city chose for this park 10 years ago was already surrounded by heavy industry. In more recent overarching land-use policy decisions, the city has reaffirmed that this zone, about midway between downtown Dallas and the northwest city limits, is where industry is supposed to go. So putting a 120-acre athletic park smack in the middle of it 10 years ago was a monumentally foolish thing to do, equivalent to installing slides, swings and a merry-go-round in the median of a downtown freeway.
Some advocates for the park found sympathy from some council members this week when they accused the surrounding industrial users of environmental racism. They even suggested the solution must be to run off the industrial users, who possess long-range and even permanent legal permission to be where they are. This would be the equivalent of protecting the kids on the merry-go-round by tearing down the freeway.
In spite of my huggerdom, I always balk and even recoil when I hear a certain narrative stubbornly repeated around town in which industry is painted as a bad thing, an enemy of the people. I’ve lived here more than half of a very long life, but I’m a kid from the Great Lakes region at a time when it was the steaming, bustling industrial hub of the western world. Yeah, a while back.
I grew up among hardworking people who gathered in from around the world to work in those industries. With their good wages they bought new brick houses, sent kids to college and retired with great health care and, believe me, they did not do it by riding merry-go-rounds.
Environmental racism is real, there and here. This city has been witness to despicable cases of environmental racism, as in West Dallas, where noxious polluters were jammed in cheek-by-jowl with poor and mainly minority neighborhoods. Permanent damage was done to generations of children.
That’s a true and terrible story, a sin that cannot be plowed under with the lead-contaminated soil left behind by polluters like the infamous RSR lead smelter, closed in 1984 only after a heroic battle led by citizen activist Mattie Nash.
So how on this good earth could this city government, whose sole ultimate purpose is to protect us, have placed 19 soccer fields in the middle of a legally defined industrial area?
I assume MoneyGram paid good money for those naming rights, but if the park is to stay where it is, then another name would better suit the tradition it represents. In its present location, the park should be renamed RSR Smelter Park.
At the risk of being drummed out of hugger ranks forever, I can’t help pointing out another aspect of this vote: the powerful effect it will have on future location and investment decisions by industry. This is how factories wind up in Mexico.
We ought to be able to agree on this much. We never want kids to breathe in inhalable particulate matter if we can help it. But if we can resolve that problem, then industry is a good thing, not bad.
Industry provides employment, which is even more important than soccer. Employment puts food on the table. No food on the table, no soccer. And industry provides massive support to the tax base. Oh, that — the money to pay for $31 million soccer parks.
Hugger be damned, I just don’t believe the city council did the right thing this week. The right thing would have been for the city to admit its mistake 10 years ago and sell the park to industry, kind of like taking the merry-go-round out of the freeway. Put the money toward building a new soccer park somewhere safer. And name it Mattie Nash Soccer Park.
But did I actually say, “admit its mistake?” Yes, well. There you have it.
Jim Schutze is a longtime Dallas journalist and author of the recent novel “Pontiac.”
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
Dallas, TX
Remains of Dallas infant found at Louisiana linen warehouse, police say

The remains of an infant from Dallas were found in Louisiana earlier this week, according to police.
The Shreveport Police Department said officers responded to a call around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday in reference to a body that was found at an Alsco Uniforms building.
Alsco employees told police they initially thought they found a doll wrapped in linens before they realized it was a small child.
According to police, the remains belonged to an infant who was stillborn in Dallas on May 3. The child’s funeral service was held at Golden Gate Funeral Home & Crematory in Dallas on May 17 and was scheduled for cremation.
Police said that the infant’s remains were mistakenly transported along with soiled linens to the Alsco Uniforms facility in Shreveport, about 190 miles east of Dallas.
“This is a deeply distressing situation,” said Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith. “Our thoughts are with the family of the child as this investigation unfolds.”
Police said no foul play is suspected and the investigation is ongoing.
The Texas Funeral Service Commission is also investigating.
Dallas, TX
FC Dallas Homegrown Diego Garcia Called into U.S. U19 Men's National Team

FC Dallas Homegrown midfielder Diego Garcia has been called up to the U.S. U19 Men’s National Team for its first camp of 2025 from June 2-10 in Marbella, Spain. The USA will play host Spain on Saturday, June 7, and Ukraine on Tuesday, June 10. Both matches will be played at Estadio Guillermo Amor in Benidorm, Spain.
He will depart for the national team following the club’s weekend home game on May 31 against the Philadelphia Union.
Garcia made his FC Dallas debut on May 7 in Dallas’ U.S. Lamar Hunt Round of 16 matchup versus AV ALTA FC after entering the match in the 75th minute. Garcia signed as the 38th FC Dallas Homegrown player on Nov. 16, 2022.
The 18-year old saw a productive year in 2024 with North Texas SC. The club went on to win MLS NEXT Pro Cup and Garcia was a big part of that team. He scored eight goals and seven assists through the regular season and playoffs, including two game-winning goals and two game-winning assists. Garcia set a club record as the youngest player to reach 50 appearances (18 years, 4 days).
-
Education1 week ago
Video: Columbia University President Is Booed at Commencement Ceremony
-
Technology1 week ago
AMD’s new RX 9060 XT looks set to challenge Nvidia’s RTX 5060
-
Technology1 week ago
Are Character AI’s chatbots protected speech? One court isn’t sure
-
News1 week ago
Read the Full ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Report
-
Culture1 week ago
How Manga Megastar Junji Ito Makes Terrifying Series Like ‘Uzumaki’
-
News1 week ago
'Golden Dome' Missile Shield To Be 1st US Weapon In Space. All About It
-
News1 week ago
Video: Trump Repeats False Claims to South African President
-
World1 week ago
Belgium requests lifting of MEP immunity to investigate Huawei scandal