Arriving a year ago in exchange for Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks traded Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards along with Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum receiving in exchange Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham and Marvin Bagley III as well as two second-round picks and three second-round picks. AD’s adventure in Texas thus ends after just 29 games played with the Mavs
A few days ago we celebrated the first anniversary of the trade that brought Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and, at the same time, Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks along with Max Christie and a first-round draft pick. Today the Mavs decided to end an unfortunate adventure to say the least: AD was in fact sold along with Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum to the Washington Wizardsreceiving in return Khris Middleton, Aj Johnson, Malaki Branham E Marvin Bagley III. There are also some in the package arriving from Washington two first-round draft picks (that of the Thunder this year, therefore in all probability the last of the first round, and the 2030 first pick of the Golden State Warriors, but protected 1-20, so Dallas will only receive it if it finishes after the 21st) and three second choices.
The exchange on Washington’s side
A bit like what happened with Trae Young, Washington finds itself a bit of a surprise in being able to take a player certainly high profile (we are still talking about one of the top 75 players in NBA history) at an overall reduced pricegiven that none of the players involved are part of the core the Wizards want to focus on for the future nor are first-round picks of particular valuesince neither of them can finish in the top-20. The cost, if anything, is at the contract level: Davis will make $58.4 million next year and has a $62.7 million player option for 2027-28, and most likely will be looking for a contract extension given the age of 32 and, above all, i so many injury problems we’ve had up to this point. When he’s healthy AD is still an excellent big man (20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds again this year despite the thousand problems), but seeing him on the pitch continuously becomes increasingly difficult to imagine in his near future. That said, the Wizards — who could sit both AD and Trae Young for the rest of the season to better position themselves for the Draft Lottery — they certainly didn’t compromise their future in terms of assets to get Davis and Traealso given the very large salary space available. Even if it were to be resolved all letting them end up in free agencyo exchanging them in a year at the deadlineit wouldn’t be anything that dramatic.
The exchange on Dallas’ side
The idea of building a contender around Davis is vanished the moment Kyrie Irving tore his anterior cruciate ligament a year ago, and now that AD has been sold essentially for nothing the trade that brought Doncic to Los Angeles is considered the worst of all time. Davis played at the Mavs only 29 games in a calendar year and he hasn’t taken the team essentially anywhere, except paradoxically with his absences helping the Texans go bad enough to win the Draft Lottery for Cooper Flagg. This move from a technical point of view for sure doesn’t help Dallas become a better team immediately (although AJ Johnson might have some potential, certainly more than Hardy, Russell and Exum who weren’t playing for various reasons), but it allows gain great salary flexibility for the future: first of all they came down below the luxury tax threshold and both apronsand with a salary of 150 million dollars for next year they have a lot more room to build around Flagg. Draft picks, as already mentioned, are not of great value, but it is also true that with the league’s seventh-worst record they have a 31.9% top-4 pick rate and a 7.5% first-overall pick rate. Lady Luck already rewarded them a year ago, but now the focus is entirely on the future – leaving aside Nico Harrison’s dream of immediately contending for the title.
