Trade & FA 2024-25:

[F Gump]

First off, Lively >> Gafford.

But injuries and a lack of an offensive game besides lobs is limiting.  He's only played in half of the games in his career.

This is fair, and imo a much more realistic view of Lively than I usually see in this forum. While I have no desire to see Lively go, he's nowhere near the 2nd coming of KG that some have anticipated, and he's always an "injury waiting to happen" because of his frail frame.  Lively can't play all the games, and he can't stand up to the pounding by himself.

Because of that repeated lack of availability, Gafford or another sturdy starter-caliber center is an ongoing necessity, if you want this team to play big.I'm fine with that, but it's not a fact that is considered a lot in this forum imo.

In addition, Lively's development was very much tailored to work with Luka's style of play and abilities. It remains to be seen (because Lively sat almost the entirety of the games afterwards) if the loss of Luka changes his value, but it's very possible.