Hot Takes on Mavs' Dereck Lively II vs. Warriors' Podziemski with Jackson-Davis Out

NBA Summer League action continued Wednesday in Las Vegas with an entertaining matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors.

The Mavericks defeated the Warriors 98-96 at Cox Pavilion thanks to some solid performances from Dereck Lively II, Jaden Hardy, Mike Miles Jr. and Olivier-Maxence Prosper.

However, Lively caught the attention of many after finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks in nearly 30 minutes on the court.

Lively's latest performance had Mavericks fans on Twitter praising his skillset, with some even calling for the team to start him at center over Dwight Powell during the 2023-24 campaign:

The Mavericks selected Lively with the 12th overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Duke, where he was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and ACC All-Defense Team in 2022-23 after averaging 5.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 34 games.

While Lively has plenty to improve on, including his offensive game, there's still a lot to like about his game. However, it's probably a stretch at this point to say he should start over Powell as a rookie.

The Warriors, meanwhile, were without Trayce Jackson-Davis on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury, and Brandin Podziemski didn't pick up much of the slack in his absence aside from making a nice pass at the end of the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime.

Podziemski finished with just five points, five rebounds and seven assists in just over 32 minutes, and that had Warriors fans on Twitter discussing whether or not Golden State wasted the 19th overall pick in the 2023 draft on him:

Podziemski spent the 2022-23 season with the Santa Clara Broncos and was named the WCC Player of the Year after averaging 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 32 games.

While the guard's offensive game has yet to translate at the NBA level, it's likely a little early to be calling him a bust of a draft pick.