Kathy Drysdale, mother of Dereck Lively II, was a college basketball player and is a Penn State legend. She mentored him and trained him all the way to the NBA, before passing away from an illness a few days ago. Now he plays to honor his memory.
Dereck Lively II’s career has always had the spotlight nearby: coming out of high school he was the number one prospect in the ESPN rankings and did not leave the top 3 overall in the rest of the rankings. In his rookie year at Duke, he led all Division 1 rookies in blocks and was named to the ACC All-Defensive Team. But his story could not be told without his greatest supporter: his mother.
Kathy Drysdale, Dereck’s mother, was a college basketball player and is a Penn State legend, a university for which she scored 1,295 points and 717 rebounds in her career. Drysdale helped propel Penn State to the No. 1 AP ranking in 1991. Known as the “Baseline Goddess,” Kathy has been a great basketball mentor to Dereck, but her greatest teachings and biggest battles have been off the court.
Drysdale raised Lively, who lost her father, Dereck Jerome Lively, at age 7 to an overdose. A year after her father’s death, Kathy was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a disease that took a major role in Dereck and Kathy’s lives.
“I remember there were days where he would walk home, pick up his medicine at the pharmacy and take it with him. I made sure he had food and water and then I would do homework, go out to play with friends, come back, shower, fall asleep, wake up and find someone to go to school with. In all that time she had not moved from the bed. But when she asked him if she was okay, she would say ‘yes, I’m okay, go to school.’ She always tried to seem invincible, no matter how many times she felt defeated,” Lively recalls.
Despite her illness, Kathy was always present in Dereck’s sporting life. Her background in basketball helped him fulfill the role of coach with her son, supporting him, motivating him and being one of her biggest critics. “There were games where she wasn’t playing well and in the gym we heard ‘Dereck Lively, if you’re not going to do your best…’ and everyone in the stands looked at her as if she were crazy, but that only made me continue and turned on. “a fire in me that made me try harder because my mom just yelled at me.”
After being one of the best prospects in high school and after a great year at Duke, all the work they both did for years paid off in the 2023 Draft. With the 12th pick in the draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Lively to be sent directly to the Dallas Mavericks. Kathy was overflowing with emotion on draft day, in the interview with Monica McNutt she said: “I’m so emotional, I don’t even know what to do right now.”
Lively’s first season has been a success, she came to the Mavs to fill an immediate need for the team, so she was a starter until the arrival of Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline. The rookie averaged 8.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and a block per game this season, the same season in which his mother was able to enjoy the vast majority of games live in Dallas.
Kathy passed away on April 12 due to the same illness. In the midst of all the chaos, and as in his entire career, Lively has highlighted that her mother is an inspiration for him: “My mom was on her deathbed and acted as if nothing was happening, saying ‘I’m fine’. Seeing that attitude, that strength makes me realize that she passed the baton to me and I have to make sure I continue to carry it.”
The devastating news for Lively came just days before the start of the NBA postseason. For anyone else, this would have been an insurmountable emotional blow, but as Kathy said in a pre-draft interview: “Not many have had to face the adversity that he has had to face, I think the situations have made him more humble, he They have created character and resilience. He doesn’t give up.”
And that is exactly what Lively has done in the Playoffs, not giving up, shining in the midst of the darkness. He is the rookie (from the class of 2023) with the most points in the postseason with 53, he is the third best defender in the paint, allowing only 42% of the opponent’s shots and he averaged 9 points, 6 rebounds and a block per game in the first series against the Clippers, all while maintaining a shooting average of 75%, the best average for a rookie in the Playoffs in Mavericks history.
Lively is ready for the second round, where he will have a direct duel against Chet Holmgrem, the Thunder Center who is one of the candidates for rookie of the year. Lively is aware that it will be a difficult task and his plan is to “try to make him uncomfortable.”
He knows that his mother will be in heaven advising him like when she was on the platform.
2024-05-07 05:28:50
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