After getting selected for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2023 NBA Draft in a grandiose fashion, fans are curious to learn about Dereck Lively brother, sister, parents, family, and more.
Dereck Lively does not have a brother or sister, but what he does have is a very supportive mother. His mother went through hell and back to raise him up to be the man he is today.
Dereck Jerome Lively II was born on February 12, 2004, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft has been happy news for him.
He got selected by the Dallas Mavericks as the 12th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft when the Oklahoma City Thunder traded the 10th pick and Davis Bertans to him. The Mavericks waived Bertans’ salary, allowing the Thunder to move up two slots.
Dereck was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2022 class. Lively went to Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Lively was chosen to play in the McDonald’s All-American Boys Game in 2022.
According to major recruiting organizations, Lively is a unanimous five-star prospect and one of the top players in the 2022 class.
On September 20, 2021, he committed to Duke over scholarships from Kentucky, Michigan, and Penn State.
Who is Dereck Lively Brother? Meet His Sister And Parents
Lively was born to his father, Late Mr. Dereck Lively Sr., and his mother, Kathy Drysdale. He is a single child and does not have a brother or a sister.
Dereck did not have the best of childhood, but his mother did her best, fighting through hell to raise him up to be the person he is today.
Lively’s father passed away due to a cocaine and heroin overdose when he was just seven years old. He was then raised by his single mother.
Having to raise a child being a single mother is not the only struggle Kathy had to go through. She is also a cancer survivor.
Kathy mentions that the only thing that motivated her to fight and try was the image of her son growing up as an orphan. She has shattered the notion that it should be the male figure that inspires a player to get into NBA.
She was among the best for the Penn State women’s basketball team from 1988 to 1992. Lively also mentions her as his first coach because when he played on the Doug West D-Fenders in the sixth grade, she used to coach him.
While Lively picked up the game from his mother, he attributes his outspoken nature to his father. He says that he remembers his father’s laugh and jokes warmly.
On Halloween, he remembers his father picking him up from elementary school. Dereck Sr. used to take him to have ice cream and take him candy hunting.
Dereck Lively Injury
The weak point of Lively seems to be his calves, as they have posed a problem in many of the player’s games throughout his collegiate career.
In the October of 2022, Lively, the top-ranked recruit in the 2022 class, sustained a calf injury.
He was unable to participate in Duke’s preseason basketball event, Countdown to Craziness, as well as a “secret” scrimmage against Houston due to the injury.
Initially labeled as day-to-day, he was expected to participate in Duke’s season opener against Jacksonville. But he ended up missing that game and even several others due to the injury.
Lively’s injury was a significant drawback for the team and a huge disappointment for the fans.
His size makes him a natural defensive force, drawing comparisons to former Duke center Mark Williams.
