Who Was Dereck Lively II’s Father? Dive Deep Into the 20YO Mavericks Star’s Tragedy-Filled Past

Published 04/21/2024, 12:56 PM EDT

Dereck Lively II has been living the dreams of having a fine rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks. This season, he averaged 9.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game. However, Lively II was not so ‘lively’ as the Mavericks player has gone through all of it, including his father’s demise due to a drug overdose and his mother’s sickness. The 20-year-old had a crumbling way down the road of success.

Lively II’s father was Dereck Lively Sr., famously known as ‘Big Dereck’ for his son. Big Dereck was a tall 6-foot-7-inch goliath who wooed Lively’s mother, Kathy Drysdale. As far as the Mavericks player can recall, he mostly has jolly memories of his father dancing around the house and listening to Shakira. The latter’s love for his son can be seen from the fact he bought Lively loads of candy when their neighbors were being mingy giving candy on Halloween.

Big Dereck’s love was not showered on his son only. The former had enough charms to woo Drysdale despite her being a Penn State basketball player. Both of them were tall as well as humorously rich, so there were tons of laughs in Lively’s childhood. Reminiscing the good old days with this big man, Lively said in an interview with NBA that his father “did whatever he could to stay in my life for as long as possible.”

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Childhood Tragedy of Dercek Lively II

Big Dereck always wanted his son to be happy; however, it was not sunshine and rainbows for him. The former was a co**aine and her**n addict that kept him away from his home and family for days. Considering the addiction of Lively’s father, the financial drain was just a sad norm for his mother, Drysdale. She had learned to live this way with her husband.

But God had other plans, and just like that Big Dereck died due to her**n overdose. Little Drake was just eight years old then and could not fathom the reason for what was happening. When Lively was struggling through his initial basketball days, he got to know Drysdale was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. However, after nailing at Westtown school, the former continued to hustle and got a scholarship at Duke.

Finally, during the summer just before his freshman year, the Mavericks picked him up with the 12th pick of the 2023 NBA Draft. So far, he is enjoying his rookie season, making his mother and late father proud of his achievements.

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Written by:

Krishna Shukla is an NBA Writer at Essentially Sports. After working extensively across different divisions at ES, his love for Kobe enticed him into the world of basketball. He specializes in reconstructing basketball podcasts in his writing, along with writing injury reports.

Edited by:

Caroline Joseph

Who Was Dereck Lively II’s Father? Dive Deep Into the 20YO Mavericks Star’s Tragedy-Filled Past

Childhood Tragedy of Dercek Lively II

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