Dereck Lively II vs. Wes Unseld Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Wes Unseld and Dereck Lively II, 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.

Dereck Lively II played 3 years in the NBA, 10 less than Wes Unseld, who played 13. Dereck Lively II had the first of his seasons in 2023-24, while Wes Unseld had his rookie season in 1968-69. 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
	Dereck Lively II	Wes Unseld
Season	2023-24	1968-69
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Baltimore Bullets
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second Team	-
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals	Bullets Lost East Div Semis

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
difference:	+27	+12.7	+5.0			+11.3	+1.5				-0.8	+1.2	+5.5	+.271				+2.7	+4.1	+.099
Wes Unseld	82	36.2	13.8	-	-	18.2	2.6	-	-	-	3.4	5.2	10.9	.476	-	-	-	3.4	5.6	.605
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
difference:	+17	+19.3	+10.9			+11.1					-1.2	+4.5	+9.8	+.148				+2.1	+1.9	+.199
Wes Unseld	4	41.3	18.8	-	-	18.5	1.3	-	-	-	3.5	7.5	14.3	.526	-	-	-	3.8	4.8	.789

Season 3
	Dereck Lively II	Wes Unseld
Season	2025-26	1970-71
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Baltimore Bullets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Bullets Lost NBA Finals

more >>

3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
difference:	+67	+22.8	+9.8			+11.6	+2.1				-0.2	+4.1	+8.8	+.110				+1.6	+2.7	+.143
Wes Unseld	74	39.2	14.1	-	-	16.9	4.0	-	-	-	3.2	5.7	11.4	.501	-	-	-	2.7	4.1	.657
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Wes Unseld	18	42.2	13.2	-	-	18.8	3.8	-	-	-	3.3	5.3	11.6	.462	-	-	-	2.6	4.5	.568

Additional Years
* Wes Unseld played 10 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 13, from 1972 to 1981—Wes Unseld played in 9 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 10 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Wes Unseld got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 Rebounds Leader 3 All-Star Game