In a league full of superstars, the Dallas Mavericks have lots of them.
Heading into the 2024-25 campaign, the Mavericks already had Kyrie Irving (an NBA champion and eight-time All-Star at the time) and Klay Thompson (a four-time title-winner and five-time All-Star) on their roster. The franchise has since added Anthony Davis (a 10-time All-Star and NBA champion) and Cooper Flagg (the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft) to its ranks this calendar year.
But of those four players, Davis is the one who has caught the eye of former NBA player and now-ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins.
Perkins believes Davis will be 'on a mission' during the 2025-26 season
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In [an Aug. 13 episode of the "Road Trippin'" podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOaRvEfoA1Q&t=1652s), co-hosts Allie Clifton, Channing Frye and Perkins debated where the league's five Christmas Day matchups stack up against each other in terms of quality. Frye attempted to rank them in the order Clifton presented them to him without knowing which one was next.
When she got to the Mavericks' game against the Golden State Warriors, Frye put it at the very bottom.
Perkins disagreed with Frye's assessment of that matchup, placing Davis at the center of his argument as to why it could be an entertaining contest.
"People are sleeping on Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. It's between Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns for the two players that have the most to prove this season," Perkins said.
"Anthony Davis is going to be on a mission. Dallas traded away their young international superstar \[Luka Dončić\] for Anthony Davis, a two-way player," Perkins continued. "The passion, and what I've been seeing out of Anthony Davis before the season ended — what he's been saying in the media as far as how he's embraced this — people better watch out for AD. That's all I got to say."
Davis suffered a strained left adductor during his Mavericks debut on Feb. 8, but he returned to competitive action just over one month later. He put up 20.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in nine regular-season contests with the team.
He also scored 40 points (on 16-of-29 shooting), grabbed nine rebounds and dished out two asissts in the Mavericks' NBA Play-In Tournament game against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 18, but Dallas would go on to lose 120-106.