Dave Cowens vs. Dereck Lively II Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dereck Lively II and Dave Cowens, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Dave Cowens played 11 years in the NBA, 8 more than Dereck Lively II, who played 3. Dave Cowens had the first of his seasons in 1970-71, while Dereck Lively II had his rookie season in 2023-24. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Dave Cowens	Dereck Lively II
Season	1970-71	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	81	38.0	17.0	-	-	15.0	2.8	-	-	-	4.3	6.8	16.1	.422	-	-	-	3.4	4.6	.732
difference:	+26	+14.5	+8.2			+8.1	+1.7				-1.7	+2.8	+10.7	+.325				+2.7	+3.1	+.226
Dereck Lively II	55	23.5	8.8	2.5	4.4	6.9	1.1	0.7	1.4	0.9	2.6	4.0	5.4	.747	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	1.5	.506
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dereck Lively II	21	22.0	7.9	2.7	4.7	7.4	1.3	0.4	1.0	1.0	2.3	3.0	4.5	.674	0.0	0.0	-	1.7	2.9	.590

Season 2
	Dave Cowens	Dereck Lively II
Season	1971-72	2024-25
Team	Boston Celtics	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	79	40.3	18.8	-	-	15.2	3.1	-	-	-	4.0	8.3	17.2	.484	-	-	-	2.2	3.1	.720
difference:	+43	+17.2	+10.1			+7.7	+0.7				-1.2	+4.6	+11.9	+.218				+0.9	+1.1	+.090
Dereck Lively II	36	23.1	8.7	2.9	4.6	7.5	2.4	0.6	1.6	1.1	2.8	3.7	5.3	.702	0.0	0.0	-	1.3	2.0	.630
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	11	40.1	15.5	-	-	13.8	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	6.5	14.2	.455	-	-	-	2.5	4.3	.596
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Dave Cowens	Dereck Lively II
Season	1972-73	2025-26
Team	Boston Celtics	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	Season MVP	-
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	82	41.8	20.5	-	-	16.2	4.1	-	-	-	3.8	9.0	20.0	.452	-	-	-	2.5	3.2	.779
difference:	+75	+25.4	+16.2			+10.9	+2.2				-0.8	+7.4	+17.4	+.159				+1.4	+1.8	+.021
Dereck Lively II	7	16.4	4.3	2.0	3.3	5.3	1.9	0.6	1.6	1.4	3.0	1.6	2.6	.611	0.0	0.0	-	1.1	1.4	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	13	46.0	21.9	-	-	16.6	3.7	-	-	-	4.2	9.9	21.0	.473	-	-	-	2.1	3.2	.659
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Dave Cowens played 8 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 11, from 1974 to 1983—Dave Cowens played in 5 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 8 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Dave Cowens got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 6 All-Star Game