Anthony Davis trade grades: Mavs shift toward building around Cooper Flagg

The Dallas Mavericks were going to be Cooper Flagg’s team once the organization won the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft lottery with a 1.8 percent chance. Now it’s even more official.

In an eight-player deal between the Mavericks and Washington Wizards, big man Anthony Davis, whom Dallas acquired a year ago in the shocking trade of Luka Dončić, will join Trae Young and a full core of young players. The Mavericks are getting back a couple of veterans, a young player, two first-round picks and three second-round picks.

The Wizards are really going for it (we think?) with their two big trades this season. Let’s grab the red pen and figure out how both the Wizards and Mavericks did here.

Wizards receive Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, Dante Exum

We heard rumors earlier this season of the Atlanta Hawks trying to acquire Davis. The assumption was he’d be paired with Young, and the Hawks would be looking to make a major move in the Eastern Conference.

Instead, Young was traded to the Wizards for a minimal return. There were still rumors of the Hawks’ interest in Davis, and maybe it was going to be even more likely that Atlanta tried to acquire him without the financial commitment stacking on top of Young’s contract. It looks like the Wizards took those rumors from November/December and decided to do their own version of that pairing.

To me, the impressive part of this deal is the Wizards being able to keep their young core together. They’re not sending out Bilal Coulibaly or Bub Carrington or Kyshawn George or Tre Johnson or Alex Sarr. AJ Johnson is a nice role-player prospect whom Milwaukee liked and Washington acquired in the Kyle Kuzma trade last season. But at no point was he a major part of the Wizards’ youth movement. The Wizards keep all of those exciting young players, and they don’t even have to send out their first-round pick. Per my colleagues, the picks headed to Dallas are the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2026 first (can probably pencil that in at 30th) and a pick from Golden State in 2030, protected 1-20.

I don’t know if Davis and Young will actually be a strong enough pairing to shake up the East. It definitely shakes up the Wizards’ path, but the timing of it is perfect. We haven’t seen Young on the court since he was traded to Washington nearly a month ago, as he’s sidelined with a quad injury that will keep him out at least through the All-Star break. Davis is out with a hand injury that will probably keep him out for another few weeks at least. That’s assuming Davis even wants to be in Washington and doesn’t try to get moved elsewhere before the deadline. Davis wants an extension, and he wants to be on a good team.

I’m not sure where the Wizards are in his plans, but maybe the combination of him and Young changes his mind? Davis is under contract for $58 million next season and has a $62.7 million player option for the 2027-28 season. Young has a player option for next season at $48.9 million. The Wizards aren’t necessarily committed to either long-term, and vice versa. They have some time to evaluate and see if this works for them on the court, or whether they can try to flip either player for more assets at some point. Regardless, they didn’t give up their own firsts and they didn’t alter their core. This is great asset management, with the possibility of putting some real heat on the court.

Grade: A-

Mavericks receive Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, three second-round picks

Is this enough for Davis? In the past, you would’ve said no. When you factor in that they gave up Dončić to bring in Davis, then fired the guy who made that trade months later, it doesn’t feel like the Mavs are headed in the right direction. Essentially, you now open yourself up to this kind of public fodder:

• Sent out: Dončić, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, Dante Exum
• Brought in: Max Christie, Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, three first-round picks, three second-round picks, 29 games of Davis.

I just lowered this grade after typing that out because, framed that way, you have to wonder what the organization has done to itself.

Yes, Flagg is awesome, and he should be a great franchise player for them. But this team was in the NBA Finals less than two years ago, with the potential to get back there again. In one year and three days, they’ve turned themselves into a rebuilding team with an awesome teenager — for no logical reason.

If we’re going to keep it just to this deal, the biggest potential value play is whatever that Warriors pick ends up being in 2030. The problem with that is it’s top-20 protected, and if it doesn’t convey in 2030, it becomes a second-rounder. The Mavericks either have to nail this Thunder pick they’re acquiring in 2026, or they have to pray the Warriors keep it together enough to give them the 21st pick in 2030. Maybe this is about Johnson and what they can develop him into? Or maybe they like the idea of grabbing Bagley in a trade because he was taken before Dončić in the 2018 draft?

As I type more, I just lowered the grade on Dallas another mark. It’s going to be hard to get value for a 32-year-old All-NBA-level talent who can’t stay on the court. When you wrap it all into the past year-plus of where this franchise was and what it did to itself, it feels like the Mavericks might have been better off waiting for some real draft capital or insisting on getting one of the young players from the Wizards.

Grade: C