Sam Cassell vs. Dereck Lively II Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dereck Lively II and Sam Cassell, 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.

Sam Cassell played 15 years in the NBA, 12 more than Dereck Lively II, who played 3. Sam Cassell had the first of his seasons in 1993-94, 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
	Sam Cassell	Dereck Lively II
Season	1993-94	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Sam Cassell	66	17.0	6.7	0.4	1.7	2.0	2.9	0.9	0.1	1.4	2.1	2.5	5.9	.418	0.4	1.3	.295	1.4	1.6	.841
difference:	+11	+6.5	+2.1	+2.1	+2.7	+4.9	+1.8	+0.2	+1.3	-0.5	-0.5	+1.5	+0.5	+.329	+0.4	+1.3		+0.7	+0.1	+.335
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		%
Sam Cassell	22	21.7	9.4	0.9	1.8	2.7	4.2	1.0	0.2	2.1	2.8	2.9	7.3	.394	0.8	2.0	.378	2.9	3.4	.865
difference:	+1	+0.3	+1.5	+1.8	+2.9	+4.7	+2.9	+0.6	+0.8	-1.1	-0.5	+0.1	+2.8	+.280	+0.8	+2.0		+1.2	+0.5	+.275
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
	Sam Cassell	Dereck Lively II
Season	1994-95	2024-25
Team	Houston Rockets	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Sam Cassell	82	23.0	9.5	0.5	2.1	2.6	4.9	1.1	0.2	2.0	2.5	3.1	7.2	.427	0.8	2.3	.330	2.6	3.1	.843
difference:	+46	+0.1	+0.8	+2.4	+2.5	+4.9	+2.5	+0.5	+1.4	-0.9	-0.3	+0.6	+1.9	+.275	+0.8	+2.3		+1.3	+1.1	+.213
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		%
Sam Cassell	22	22.0	11.0	0.4	1.5	1.9	4.0	1.0	0.1	1.5	3.0	3.4	7.7	.438	1.1	2.7	.400	3.2	3.9	.835
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Sam Cassell played 12 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 15, from 1997 to 2008—Sam Cassell played in 8 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 12 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Sam Cassell got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Star Game