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With the NBA trade deadline 10 days away, it remains unlikely that Anthony Davis will be on the move, multiple league sources have told The Athletic.
Davis is still recovering from a left hand injury suffered in the Dallas Mavericks’ Jan. 8 game against the Utah Jazz. He did light on-court work before Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, but he’s not expected to play again until late February at the earliest.
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The 10-time All-Star has missed six more games (26) than he has played this season (20) and will turn 33 years old in March. Assuming he exercises his $62.8 million player option for the 2027-28 season, he will be 35 by the time his current deal ends.
While Davis’ market is tepid because of his contract status and injury history, other Mavericks players are drawing interest from rival teams. Mavericks forward Naji Marshall, in particular, is a player in demand.
“I think half the league is interested in him,” one scout with a Western Conference team said.
The Mavericks are signaling they’d like to hold onto Marshall and that it would take something extraordinary to consider moving the 28-year-old, who is in the midst of a career year. This season, the slashing forward nicknamed “The Knife” is averaging 14.7 points on a 63.5 true-shooting percentage. Marshall has shown steady improvement in his six-year NBA career, which began in 2020 as an undrafted rookie on a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Marshall has an impressive arsenal of floater and push shots that have been effective in the paint. According to Cleaning the Glass, he is converting 74 percent of his shots at the rim and 63 percent of his shots from 4 to 14 feet away.
Marshall’s all-around production this year and his contract are reasons why he is considered a coveted player. He is making $9 million this season and is owed $9.4 million next season, or about 5.7 percent of the salary cap.
Daniel Gafford is another Mavericks player receiving interest on the trade market, in part because of the number of NBA teams seeking an upgrade at center. The Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics are among the teams interested in adding a big man.
Gafford’s scoring average has dipped from 12.3 points per game last season to 7.6 points per contest this season, as he has been battling a nagging right ankle sprain. But he is still only 27 years old and started NBA Finals games for the Mavericks less than two years ago.
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When Gafford is healthy, he remains a dangerous lob threat and a formidable interior defender. In Saturday’s loss to the Lakers, he had two impressive blocks, including a fourth-quarter swat of LeBron James’ take to the rim.
The Mavericks signed Gafford to a three-year contract extension worth $54 million in July. His deal takes him through the 2028-29 season.
The Mavericks (19-27), who are in 12th place in the West and have the NBA’s fourth-highest payroll, need to shed salary and replenish their draft capital after sending out so many first- and second-round picks to strengthen their roster around Luka Dončić, whom they traded to the Lakers last February.
The Mavericks don’t have full control of their first-round pick after this year again until 2031 (though they do own the Lakers’ unprotected 2029 first). Dallas also doesn’t control a second-round pick until 2030.