{"id":587036,"date":"2026-02-06T21:45:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587036\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:45:26","slug":"mavericks-naji-marshall-makes-anthony-davis-admission-after-blockbuster-wizards-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587036\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks’ Naji Marshall Makes Anthony Davis Admission After Blockbuster Wizards Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks<\/a> shocked the sports world by flipping franchise superstar Luka Doncic<\/a> to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> for a package including oft-injured star Anthony Davis<\/a> last year. Now, Davis is with the Washington Wizards<\/a> after Dallas traded him<\/a> there on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mavericks forward Naji Marshall gave his thoughts about the trade after the team’s 135-123 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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“It’s always unfortunate. AD faced some injuries, I wish I could’ve played more games with him, shared the floor with him more, but that’s my guy,” he said. “Since he’s been here, he’s been a cool dude, an amazing guy, amazing vet. Always shows love. He’s an example, puts in work, wanted to win, played for the team.”<\/p>\n

Davis played just nine regular-season games for Dallas after the trade in February last year and just 20 this season due to injury. The 32-year-old’s most recent appearance was on Jan. 8 against the Utah Jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Shoutout even [Jaden] Hardy, all those guys, Dante [Exum]. Shoutout to them, D’lo [D’Angelo Russell] too. … He was only here one year, but heck of a guy, one of my favorite teammates, one of my closest friends off the court,” Marshall continued. “Shoutout to them, I wish them nothing but success in the future.”<\/p>\n

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Dallas sent Hardy, Russell and Exum to Washington along with Davis. The Mavericks received Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley II, two first-round draft picks and three second-round picks.<\/p>\n

Anthony Davis Trade Springboards Mavericks Into New Era\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32).Candice Ward-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Candice Ward-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Previous Dallas general manager Nico Harrison justified the Doncic trade by saying “defense wins championships.” Davis is a five-time All-Defensive Team honoree and three-time NBA<\/a> blocks leader, but he’s played 65 games in a season just once since 2017-18 and is now 32 years old. Meanwhile, Doncic is a five-time All-NBA First Teamer and is just 26.<\/p>\n

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The Mavericks fired Harrison in November, and they’ve now shed Davis’ $54.1 million salary<\/a>. The former NBA champion is also owed $58.4 million next year and has a $62.7 million player option for 2027-28.<\/p>\n

Dallas is under the luxury tax line, which gives it more financial flexibility for building around rookie phenom Cooper Flagg<\/a>. The Mavericks lucked out by winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery after getting eliminated in the Play-In Tournament last season, which enabled them to get the former Duke<\/a> Blue Devil. The 19-year-old is averaging 20.4 points on 48.5% shooting (29.8% 3-point) with 6.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals over 34.2 minutes. He’s a favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

Up next for Dallas is a road matchup with the Spurs at 6 p.m. ET Saturday night.<\/p>\n

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Related: Klay Thompson Update Emerges After Mavericks’ Anthony Davis Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Feb 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks shocked the sports world by flipping franchise superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[4008,495,7,225,68686,686,149,4057,4446,2039,150,368,6968,1022,166,5989,6,474,490,427,468],"class_list":["post-587036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-aj-johnson","tag-anthony-davis","tag-basketball","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-d39angelo-russell","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-exum","tag-khris-middleton","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-malaki-branham","tag-marvin-bagley","tag-mavericks","tag-naji-marshall","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-the-mavericks","tag-utah-jazz","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116025880982878552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587036","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=587036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}