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On one hand, acquiring Anthony Davis out of whole cloth from Dallas, less than a month after getting Trae Young from the Hawks, is, simply, a stunning reversal of the Wizards’ ethos, since Michael Winger was hired as president of Monumental Basketball, and Will Dawkins as the Wizards’ general manager two-plus years ago. The duo had a mandate from owner Ted Leonsis to build slowly and methodically through the draft, and to always favor youth. But the Wizards, in an instant, have pushed some of their draft capital (the two firsts aren’t that consequential, as one is OKC’s in this year’s draft, likely to be the last pick of the first round, and the other is Golden State’s 2030 pick, which is unlikely to convey) to the middle of the table in win-now moves.
On the other hand, getting Davis and Young is emblematic of the “big swings” the duo insisted they would take on talent.
We all know how talented Davis is. He would be a huge asset for Washington’s second-year center, Alex Sarr, who leads the NBA in blocked shots, but still struggles at the point of attack to deal with more physical bigs like Karl-Anthony Towns, who weight-roomed him early and often Tuesday night. And offensively, Davis is the kind of go-to guy the Wizards simply do not possess.
But he is also serially injury-prone, and at 32, he certainly doesn’t fit the timeline of Washington’s young core of Sarr, Tre Johnson, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley and Jamir Watkins. While a healthy Davis would significantly help Washington at both ends of the floor, and vault the Wizards to playoff-contention in 2026-27, he was available for trade by the Mavericks, just like he was available for trade by the Lakers last year, in large part because he rarely stays on the floor long enough to show that impact. The price tag is big, but not crazy for a player of his stature: $58.4 million in 2026-27, followed by a sure-to-be-picked-up player option for 2027-28 at $62.7 million. And the Wizards had the budding cap space to absorb his deal without much problem.
But, that cost becomes very dicey when you consider Davis’ extensive injury history.
He’s missed 14 games already this season with a calf injury, 13 games with a hand injury, three with a groin injury, and one for injury management. Last season he missed 23 games with Dallas with abdominal and adductor injuries, on top of five games missed while with the Lakers, before the trade. In 2022-23, he missed 20 games in L.A. with a foot injury. In 2021-22, he missed 18 games with an ankle injury, and 17 with a knee injury.
A healthy Davis, at this price point, would be a steal for the Wizards. He has not been a healthy Davis for several seasons, however. We will also see how sanguine his representation is at going from L.A. to Dallas to D.C. in the space of a calendar year.