So, about all those Anthony Davis trade rumblings you've heard so much about the past few months. Well, turns out they may not amount to anything. Or not during this iteration of NBA trade season, at least.
As NBA insider Jake Fischer relayed on a recent live stream for Bleacher Report, "most people right now are operating with the assumption" that Davis will be staying in Dallas until at least the offseason. Maybe that's a reflection of the market, since Fischer made clear the Mavs have no interest in selling Davis at a discount. Or perhaps it shows a desire to see what this team can do with Davis, Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving together.
Either way, if you've been eagerly awaiting a megadeal with Davis, don't hold your breath.
Keeping Davis around would be a major missed opportunity.
Whatever the Mavericks think they need to see from the Davis-Flagg-Irving trio, they don't. Could the pieces fit an intriguing basketball puzzle? Sure, for however long the three stayed healthy, at least.
But would that on-court product trump what's being put forth by the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, and the rest of the Association's elites? Even the most optimistic members of the Mavericks' fanbase would have trouble making that argument.
That's just one of the reasons that a Davis deal is overdue. Another is the fact that every day he spends on the roster is another chance for him to get hurt. That sounds harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts. This is his 14th season in the NBA, and he's only cleared the 70-game mark in three of them. Calling him injury-prone is just an objective assessment at this point.
But the biggest argument for dealing Davis really has nothing to do with Davis himself. Rather, it's the opportunity cost Dallas would be absorbing by chasing maximum competitiveness this season and not trying to bottom out in hopes of collecting a second consecutive jackpot prize at the draft.
The 2026 draft, in case you haven't hard, looks absolutely loaded. Pair Flagg with someone like Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, or Cameron Boozer, and the Mavericks would immediately have the NBA's top young tandem. Ace the developmental part of the process and flesh out the supporting cast just right, and maybe Dallas could even embark down a dynastic road.
Here's what makes dealing Davis such a no-brainer, though: Dallas would have similarly supersized motivation to tank even when this draft wasn't so stacked. And that's because after 2026, the Mavs won't fully control their own first-round pick again until 2031. This is basically their one and only chance to slot another blue-chip prospect alongside Flagg.
Not to mention that dealing Davis and embracing a teardown would make Flagg the clear focal point of this franchise. There could be a bevvy of future-focused trades to follow, perhaps allowing Dallas to capitalize on the seller shortage so often seen during the Play-In Tournament era.
The reasons for the Mavericks to make a Davis deal sooner than later are both obvious and numerous. Hopefully, at least one of them will convince the franchise to rethink its stance on the subject before it's too late.