This post was originally published on this site.
There are too many Anthony Davis trade rumors. We decided to talk about the whole situation. The question posed was simple: How should the Mavs approach trading or not trading Anthony Davis? State your reasons!
Matt: AD needs to be traded. Period. The concept of “seeing Davis, Kyrie and Flagg play together” is a fantasy and hopefully the world’s thinnest smoke screen coming from the Dallas camp. There is no future where AD and Kyrie (who will be 34 and coming off an ACL tear) can be a part of a contending team. Kyrie, by all accounts, has been very well-liked and a great mentor to younger players, so keeping him around for Cooper’s rookie-scale years isn’t the worst, but AD has no place on this team. Anything the Mavericks get in return for AD is obviously going to be viewed as an extension of the Luka trade, but trying to recoup the value of trading Luka was never going to be possible (and why Nico Harrison is now unemployed). A young player like Risacher and a draft pick (hopefully as soon as possible, preferably in this 2026 draft that’s looking extremely strong through the first round) is about the best return you can hope for. Getting off of AD’s salary for expiring contracts is an asset all by itself. Freeing up the team financially to actually take on players and assets makes building around Flagg much, MUCH easier.
Isaac: Under almost any other situation in league history, I’d say keep him and let the chips fall where they may. His injury history is making this trade nearly impossible without getting pennies on the dollar and I usually vehemently disagree with making trades that you’re clearly not winning.
But there’s another element to this deal. He is a daily reminder that we no longer have Luka Dončić and that pressure isn’t fair to him, nor the fanbase, but it’s there. For everyone’s sake, he has to go, as soon as possible. Get as much as you can from Atlanta and let’s turn the page on this odd chapter in Mavericks history and build around Cooper Flagg.
Joe: The relationship between Davis and the Mavs was already over before it started. When the season ticket holders sell their seats and fans have a literal protest because of the trade that was made for you, I think that says enough. To go along with that, he can not stay healthy and continues to manage numerous hip and upper leg injuries. Davis will be 33 in March and is in the first year of a 3-year, $175.4 million extension through the 2027-28 season, with a $62.8 million player option. He occupies roughly 35 percent of the salary cap on a roster already pressed up against the second apron, leaving Dallas with no flexibility to compensate for missed production. When Davis is unavailable, the Mavericks cannot meaningfully adjust without him, and the margin for error at the center position disappears entirely. This is the inherent risk of a top-heavy cap structure, where the most expensive player must be on the floor to justify the rest of the roster around him. Given his massive contract and the likely shift of focus to Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks should look to trade Davis as quickly as possible. For the Davis side of things, I don’t think Davis is willing to stick around for whatever the plan is without Nico, especially given a fanbase that seems ready to move on from him.
Bryan: Trade him by the deadline. It’s over. It’s not due, it’s past due. I don’t care if the team likes him, most of them won’t be here in 2 years. I don’t care if Cooper Flagg likes playing with him. He’s 18 and will learn to enjoy playing with a new, younger running mate. Since the 12/15 proverbial starting gun for NBA trade season, there hasn’t been a BAD time to trade AD. Each passing second his money is on the books and he is nursing another injury is another second we could have spent focused on Cooper Flagg and his development. This roster is the 4th most expensive in the league, in danger of falling under the repeater tax in a year and has the 8th worst record. In other words, it is a financial ticking time bomb. Anthony Davis’ and Kyrie Irving’s medical histories also loom large over what should be an exciting season of wonder and discovery with Cooper Flagg, Ryan Nembhard and Max Christie. The rumored Atlanta package of expiring contracts, a young player with potential in Zaccharie Risacher and draft compensation moves us towards a much more exciting and less expensive future that satisfies the wants of a solid number of fans and, more importantly, the pocketbook of the team governor. It only makes sense. Pokémon GO to the phones!
Tyler: Anthony Davis must be moved for multiple reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, the Mavericks have to trade Davis simply to reset their books around Cooper Flagg. The salary cap minutiae is not something you should care about as a fan, but one thing we all can agree on is that you don’t want to spend money on something that doesn’t perform well. Well, the Mavericks are one of the most expensive teams in the league, and they are not very good at basketball. Trading Davis for a bunch of expiring money will help them reset so they can be aggressive in the offseason in building a winner around Flagg (keep in mind the Mavericks 2027 pick goes to Charlotte, so there’s no use in being terrible next year too!)
It’s also important that the Mavericks trade AD now because the likelihood of getting a better return this summer is simply nonexistent. Davis is who he is, and he’s not getting any younger or less injury-prone. The best time to trade him was yesterday. The next best time to move him is now. And the worst time to move him is anytime in the future.
Ben: The Mavericks should have traded Anthony Davis as soon as they landed Cooper Flagg. Every day that Davis is on the roster the Mavericks lose leverage because he has been injury prone his entire career and may suffer an injury that sidelines him for a significant amount of time. Every game he plays with the Mavericks increases the risk of a catastrophic injury and a scenario where Dallas has to attach an asset to Davis in order to facilitate a trade.
Until the Mavericks move Davis, they’re stuck in a type of purgatory, afraid to transition into the future where Flagg is the face of the franchise simply because they’re concerned with the optics of the past. There is no timeline where it makes sense to build around Flagg, recoup draft assets, and keep Davis.
Every team in the NBA knows all of this, and the Mavericks’ leverage here is weak. It gets weaker every day. The Mavericks need to move Davis while there are a few teams desperate enough to think he’s the missing piece on their team.
Brent: Believe it or not, there are still people out there defending Nico Harrison and his vision.
Imagine this team secured the 10th or 11th pick instead of the Cooper Flagg. That was Nico’s vision – dumb luck extracted. It’s a bleak vision.
Instead of talking about trying to find the next star via assets from a Davis trade, the Mavs are simply looking to make a smart move. Alacrity is intelligence here. Teams who believe they can either already contend or acquire Davis with movement into contender status will talk themselves into doing this – risks be damned. Dallas must capitalize on this because it’s a pressure cooker that will not exist in the off-season.
Without an official GM and decision maker in place, the fear is that the interim brain trust will come to Dumont with a smart, pragmatic option that is time sensitive and his pendulum will have swung the other way. A knee jerk yes to the Luka trade and a costly modicum of indecisive fear at this juncture.
If the Mavs can look past the optics of the coming headlines that will essentially equate the return for this trade plus Max Christie and the draft pick as the return for Doncic, and simply do the smart thing…well, that is really all we could ask for. Short of inventing a time machine.
Matt M.: It just seems so obvious. Trade Anthony Davis yesterday. The relief of his contract being gone is enough of a boon at this point, and I think the majority of Mavericks fans see that? I think? You have to start over. The architect of the Doncic-Davis deal is gone. It makes no sense to live with one foot in the world where the franchise has realized Nico Harrison’s distorted vision was a fiction based on his own jealousy and his boss’ soaring ineptitude, and another in a world still clinging to the remnant albatross of one of the worst trades in the history of sport. It’s not working now because it was never going to work. Cooper Flagg makes the rebuild 100 times easier than the franchise deserves. You have to tear it down as soon as possible so you don’t waste years in the process by hoping against hope that next year is the year Davis stays healthy and becomes a winning player. I would like a decent draft pick in whatever exchange materializes, but I’ll be happy with just cap relief and a spare part or two. Despite all the blundering, the Mavs still have an opportunity to come out the other side of this thing sooner than most franchises would in their position. They can’t blunder the repair job by leaving this thing only half fixed. The fanbase has been subjected to too much basketball malpractice already.
Michael: To address my baseline stance on the matter: I don’t foresee Davis playing out the remainder of his contract in Dallas. By hook or by crook, it is all but inevitable that he is traded at some point. It seems that this notion is shared by the vast majority of those who follow the team, so on this we all tend to agree. Where I find myself deviating from the herd is on the timing and return of a deal. I do not subscribe to the notion that he loses value every day that goes by. I also do not subscribe to the notion that getting “anything” in return is good enough. Taking those points in order…
Nothing happens in a vacuum. We have no idea what may happen in the days or weeks to come that can impact Davis’ value. Certainly, his injury history is a concern, and wanting to move off him before he potentially lands on the bench for a long stretch is a reasonable stance. However, no one can predict which team rips off a handful of wins and feels they are surely one player away from making a deep Postseason run; or what team looks to be underachieving and needs an impact shakeup to put them back on their expected track. While history shows Davis is injury-prone, it also shows that big transactions happen much closer to the trade deadline – teams tend to want to maximize their time in assessing what they have and what they need. Point being: there are unpredictable pros and cons to timing, and it’s at least plausible that Davis’ value increases over time. If Dallas operates with certainty that “now” is the only time to act, they are likely selling themselves way short.
In respect of the return via trade, “anything” is not enough for me. Think what you will of him, but if Davis’ career ended today, he is one of the greatest players in NBA history and a lock for the Hall of Fame. Rumor of a Hawks trade for Zaccharie Risacher/Luke Kennard/single-draft-pick-maybe-if-we’re-lucky-and-ask-real-nice are not enough. A few short years ago, the Boston Celtics gave up Marcus Smart/Danillo Gallinari/Mike Muscala/2nd Round Pick for Kristaps Porzingis/two 1st Round Picks and an eventual championship. Porzingis is arguably as injury prone as Davis, and Davis is clearly the better player over the course of their respective careers. Dallas needs to have much more ambitious expectations for a return on Davis. Dumping him for a couple of expiring contracts and a draft pick that may or may not pan out would potentially be an unmitigated disaster.
Dallas needs to play this to their advantage and on their ideal timeline, whatever that may be. There is no rush here. The Mavs are going nowhere this season and dumping Davis tomorrow for minimal return only means they get there faster with as uncertain a future as they currently have. Cooper Flagg getting introduced to a new definition of losing as he sees endless double-teams for the next 50-odd games is a “no thanks” for me. The Mavs need to be thinking bigger. If they’re making a deal with the Hawks, why on earth is Trae Young (whom the Hawks are rumored to be shopping) not part of that deal? He instantly becomes the best (active) guard on the team and has a player option for next year (relatively minimum financial commitment). Why are we desperately hoping to maybe get a single pick when we should be bringing in a third (or more) team to maximize the return on draft capital?
Dallas has the future Hall of Famer, and injury-prone or not, they need to be thinking of him (and finding teams that think of him) as a player who gets them a nice return of multiple picks and/or a player who can help take some pressure off Flagg in the here-and-now.
Chris D.: You have to trade Anthony Davis. He had a long and documented injury history before the Mavs traded for him. The injury woes have only continued in Dallas. As of Christmas, Davis has played 25 of a possible 62 games in a Mavs uniform.
Davis is about to turn 33 so it’s hard to believe his health will get any better. Even though you’ll only get pennies on the dollar, the Mavericks still need to move him. The most compelling offers I believe will come from the Hawks and Raptors. Dallas should get serious in those conversations and make a move by February 5th.
The Mavericks have a superstar in the making in Cooper Flagg. They have to rebuild around him. The Mavs spoiled quite of few years of Dirk’s prime not building around him properly and did near the same with Luka until 2024. The Mavs need to position themselves for the 2026 draft as best they can, particularly since the 2026 pick is the only one they own until 2031. Trading Davis for future assets makes even more sense knowing the Mavs are pretty depleted in future draft compensation.
Anthony Davis is good, but he’s not a $54 million player at this stage in his career. If the Mavs would keep him and sign him to an extension, that number eventually blooms up to $70 million. Is a 37-38 year-old Anthony Davis worth that? Do I even need to ask that question?
You have to trade him. Get what you can and move on. All the focus should be on Cooper Flagg and building around the up-and-coming franchise superstar.