{"id":586200,"date":"2026-02-06T12:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586200\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:24:17","slug":"national-opinion-of-mavericks-move-is-all-over-the-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586200\/","title":{"rendered":"National opinion of Mavericks\u2019 move is all over the place"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mavericks officially ended the Anthony Davis era in Dallas<\/a> with their pre-deadline deal with the Wizards, sending Davis and some scraps to Washington<\/a> in exchange for more scraps.<\/p>\n

If you ask the national basketball media, the trade lands as either a disaster for the Mavericks or an ace move that sets them up well for the future<\/a>. And a lot of in between.<\/p>\n

Check out some of the wide array of opinions on the Mavericks\u2019 blockbuster deal below.<\/p>\n

ESPN: B<\/p>\n

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ESPN\u2019s Kevin Pelton<\/a>: \u201cThis is a grade strictly for the Mavericks trading away Davis based on his current market, not one that encompasses the decision to acquire him in the first place. (I already graded that trade an F at the time.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an era when apron restrictions have made teams more cognizant than ever of managing their cap efficiently, Davis was difficult to move for significant draft compensation or equivalent young talent. The Mavericks probably faced a choice between deals like this that prioritized shedding salary, acquiring players with similarly large contracts or waiting to try to move Davis until this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf those choices, I\u2019m totally fine with making this deal now, which was the best way for Dallas to avoid paying a huge luxury tax bill for a lottery team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic: C<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Zach Harper et al.<\/a>: \u201cThe Dallas Mavericks are turning the page on the biggest part of last season\u2019s disastrous Luka Don\u010di\u0107 trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust over a year after he was initially traded to Dallas, Davis\u2019 time with the Mavs ends after just 29 games on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cDallas needed to do two things with a Davis deal: shed salary and restock its cupboard of draft picks. The Mavericks had the fourth-highest payroll in the NBA, controlled only two first-round picks outright until 2031, and had no second-round picks until 2030, before the Davis trade. This move gives them more flexibility and ammunition as they try to reset around Cooper Flagg.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS Sports: C-<\/p>\n

CBS\u2019 Sam Quinn<\/a>: \u201cLet\u2019s get this out of the way: those first-round picks are about as fake as any ever traded for a player as notable as Davis. One of them, from Oklahoma City, is almost certain to come in at No. 29 or No. 30. The other, from Golden State, is top-20 protected, so either the Mavericks get nothing or they get a late first-round pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a cap dump dressed up as a blockbuster. In one move, the Mavericks went from $16 million above the luxury tax line to below it altogether. Perhaps more importantly, they got off of the next two years of his max contract, and the pressure for an extension that would have come with it. That\u2019s not nothing. They are now free to build around Cooper Flagg in earnest. The ghosts of the Don\u010di\u0107 trade can now be put to rest. Everyone in Dallas can move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yahoo! Sports: A<\/p>\n

Yahoo\u2019s Morten Stig Jensen:<\/a> \u201cThere\u2019s no other way around this: The Mavs lost the Luka Don\u010di\u0107 trade by the size of Mt. Everest, but at least they won this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aging Davis, who can\u2019t seem to stay healthy and who remains one of the most expensive deals in the NBA, simply shouldn\u2019t have had any positive trade value, and yet, here we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey now gain a ton of salary flexibility to build around Cooper Flagg, which is what the plan should have been since he was drafted first overall last summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated: D+<\/p>\n

SI\u2019s Liam McKeone:<\/a> \u201cA Davis trade felt inevitable in Dallas the moment his biggest supporter, Nico Harrison, was fired as the team\u2019s general manager. That combined with his ongoing injury issues this season and his regularly-reported desire to receive a contract extension likely killed his trade market. It was clear to all the future of the Mavericks did not include AD.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut still. This was the best they could do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report: D-<\/p>\n

BR\u2019s Dan Favale:<\/a> \u201cTeam governor Patrick Dumont and everyone else knew the Luka trade backfired by last summer (insofar as they didn\u2019t know it from the moment the move was made). He allowed the Mavs to begin the season with Nico Harrison still in power anyway. <\/p>\n

\u201cHad Dumont acted sooner, the Mavs could have gotten more for Davis than what might amount to one first-round pick, four seconds, tax relief and overall financial flexibility. Even now, it\u2019s fair to question whether they could have gotten more if they were willing to take on longer-term money. Restocking the pick deck should have been a bigger priority when Dallas doesn\u2019t control its own after 2026 until 2030.”<\/p>\n

More on the Anthony Davis trade<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mavs-Wizards trade reaction: Dallas lands bigger haul for Anthony Davis over Luka Doncic?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 How trading Anthony Davis paves the way for Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg-led future<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Whoever pulled off Mavericks\u2019 Anthony Davis trade should be the franchise\u2019s full-time GM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 By moving Anthony Davis, Mavericks aim to patch the hole left by Luka Doncic trade<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NBA trade deadline updates: Mavericks make additional move after Anthony Davis deal<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Cooper Flagg\u2019s \u2018The Man\u2019 now, but his Mavs have a ways to go before catching Wemby\u2019s Spurs<\/a><\/p>\n

The rookie phenom officially became the face of the Dallas Mavericks shortly before tipoff of a loss to San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Mavericks fulfill trade deadline goals with salary dump, draft picks and point guard help<\/a><\/p>\n

After an \u201chonest look\u201d in the mirror, the Mavs began the process of reconstructing their roster around 19-year-old Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mavericks officially ended the Anthony Davis era in Dallas with their pre-deadline deal with the Wizards, sending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3793],"tags":[495,7,225,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-586200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallasmavericks","14":"tag-mavericks","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116023674672833944","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}