{"id":603789,"date":"2026-02-15T02:11:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/603789\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T02:11:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:11:34","slug":"dallas-mavericks-trading-anthony-davis-others-to-washington-wizards-in-massive-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/603789\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks trading Anthony Davis, others to Washington Wizards in massive deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been nearly three months since Nico Harrison was fired as general manager of the Mavericks<\/a>, and the player he preferred to help bring the franchise another championship over Luka Doncic is headed to a new destination.<\/p>\n

Anthony Davis<\/a> is being traded to the Washington Wizards as part of a massive deal including multiple players and draft picks.<\/p>\n

Davis, a 10-time NBA All-Star, will join the Wizards along with Jaden Hardy, D\u2019Angelo Russell and Dante Exum in exchange for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round and three second-round draft picks, a person with knowledge of the decision confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n

Davis and Kyrie Irving were supposed to take the post-Doncic Mavericks back to the NBA Finals, but they played just three quarters together, and they never had an opportunity to play alongside No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg as a versatile trio of No. 1 overall picks.<\/p>\n

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\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Mavericks mortgaged their future in the years leading to their 2024 Finals run to build around Doncic. Once they acquired Davis, they were left with control of their own 2026 first-round pick and a 2029 first-rounder from the Lakers until 2031.<\/p>\n

By trading Davis, they added two more first-rounders to that batch, including the least favorable 2026 pick that will be the least favorable between the LA Clippers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, along with a 2030 pick that originally belonged to the Golden State Warriors. They also reportedly added three second-round picks: in 2026 from the Phoenix Suns, 2027 from the Chicago Bulls and 2029 from Houston.<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019 days in Dallas were seemingly numbered as soon as Harrison was relieved of his duties on Nov. 11, which prompted immediate speculation about his future with the franchise. Davis tried to ignore the trade rumors<\/a> and said his focus was on basketball, but he hasn\u2019t been able to play much of it because of constant injury misfortune. <\/p>\n

\u201cMan, look. Y\u2019all make it like we\u2019re going to war or something. This is basketball. It comes with it,\u201d Davis said on Nov. 26. \u201cI think everybody in their career has been involved in trade talks, or been traded or some type of move. That doesn\u2019t affect me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in trade talks for a while. My job is to do what I do when I\u2019m on the floor, play basketball and try to lead this team. Whatever comes out of that, comes out of that. I don\u2019t really have any control over that, but I do have an open line of communication with the front office and I\u2019m just ready to get back on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was traded a few weeks after he underwent a medical evaluation of his left hand sprain, which is expected to take six weeks to heal.<\/p>\n

Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont elevated former assistant general managers Matt Riccardi <\/a>and Michael Finley<\/a> to the role of co-interim GMs in November and the duo orchestrated one of the most important trades in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks co-interim general managers Matt Riccardi, left, and Michael Finley talk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics at American Airlines Center, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Chitose Suzuki \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Davis and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, desired a contract extension when he\u2019s eligible this summer and it appears the Mavericks weren\u2019t willing to make that promise. He is under contract for one more year with a player option for the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n

Those conversations will now be delegated to the Wizards, who could use the entire month of March to integrate Davis into their lineup if he\u2019s healthy enough to return ahead of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks, under Harrison, paid an expensive price for 32-year-old Davis by trading a 26-year-old Doncic, a generational superstar who led the franchise to the 2024 NBA Finals alongside Irving. The move was made to fit a three-to-four-year timeline set by the former general manager.<\/p>\n

However, Davis was only healthy enough to play in 29 regular season and two Play-In tournament games since the Mavericks acquired him on Feb. 1, 2025. <\/p>\n

Davis arrived in Dallas with an abdominal strain and suffered a left adductor strain in his anticlimactic debut against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 8, 2025. The Mavericks appeared to be a defensive juggernaut with Davis in the first three quarters until he left the game with an injury. It stands as the only game Davis and Irving played together as Mavericks teammates. Irving\u2019s season was prematurely ended less than a month later when he suffered a torn left ACL.<\/a><\/p>\n

Since then, Davis underwent an offseason procedure to repair a detached retina and sustained several minor injuries, including a left calf strain, bilateral Achilles tendinopathy, adductor soreness and ligament damage in his left hand that preceded his exit from Dallas.<\/p>\n

Davis was dominant when healthy, averaging 20.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.8 blocks in 29 games with the Mavericks. But for all his talents scoring the ball, rebounding and blocking shots, Davis struggled to stay available and he was the physical embodiment of the trade that altered the course of the Mavericks\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks will move on from Davis, just as they were forced to do with Doncic. Everything suddenly shifts toward the development of Flagg<\/a>, the favorite for Rookie of the Year. He may be on a team that has a challenging path toward the Play-In tournament, but the Mavericks begin a new era with he and Irving as the team\u2019s pillars going forward.<\/p>\n

In less than a year\u2019s time, Davis had a grand opening and grand closing during his once promising, but complicated tenure in Dallas.<\/p>\n

X: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been nearly three months since Nico Harrison was fired as general manager of the Mavericks, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3780],"tags":[495,7,149,166,6,66,682,468,3892,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-603789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-wizards","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-mavericks","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-washington","15":"tag-washington-wizards","16":"tag-washingtonwizards","17":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116072225001001498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603789","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=603789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}