{"id":63125,"date":"2025-05-29T04:57:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T04:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63125\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T04:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T04:57:18","slug":"anthony-davis-is-the-odd-man-out-for-the-dallas-mavericks-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63125\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Davis is the odd man out for the Dallas Mavericks: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days ago, I laid out the expansive case for moving on from Anthony Davis<\/a>. Yesterday I started down the path to potential trades involving Davis, laying out three scenarios<\/a>. Today, I have three more. Before we begin, let\u2019s remember the basics:<\/p>\n

I looked at some trade scenarios that could net Dallas assets to contend\/compete while also building for the future. These range from fairly sensible to quite wacky, but I\u2019ll let all of you be the judge of that. Here are some disclaimers: <\/p>\n

All of these are illogical by default, since He-Who-Should-Be-Fired is most probably not trading Anthony Davis after all the kerfuffle of the Luka trade and how AD fits the \u201cDefense wins Championships\u201d culture. Let\u2019s not let that little detail derail this thought exercise, though. (See Chris Mannix\u2019s point in the video above)
\nDraft pick compensation might not be completely realistic as it\u2019s the most nebulous part of trade conversations. So, this exercise primarily focuses on the players who could be moved around.
\nThese are scenarios that look at situations where all teams \u201cWin\u201d in some form. It might be utopian to think of this as a possibility, but that\u2019s the exercise. Of course, the idea of \u201cWinning\u201d a trade is in the eye of the beholder, and that makes it subjective by default, but that was the goal when running through these. It\u2019s not just about aggregating all the best players in the trade on the Mavericks. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pick back up where we left off, shall we?<\/p>\n

Scenario 4: Heat Culture Baby! (And Boston tries to get out of paying the tax)<\/p>\n

Giannis, awed by Pat Riley\u2019s godfather aura, asks out of Milwaukee so that he can enjoy the Miami life and compete in an Eastern Conference that\u2019s there for the taking. The Boston Celtics, coming off a 2nd Rd. Loss and a devastating injury to Jayson Tatum look to shave chunks off their massive wage bill so that they don\u2019t have to pay upwards of $250 million in luxury taxes.<\/p>\n

The trade<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A five team trade scenario that sends Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami<\/p>\n

Summary<\/p>\n

DAL receives Jrue Holiday, Kyle Anderson, Baylor Scheierman, Drew Timme, BOS 2025 1st Rd. Pick (#28), DET 2025 2nd Rd. Pick (#47, via MIL), MIA 2028 1st Rd. Pick Swap
\nMIL receives Anthony Davis, Nikola Jovic, Duncan Robinson, GSW 2025 1st Rd. Pick (#20, via GSW), MIA 2026 1st Rd. Pick Swap, MIA 2029 1st Rd. Pick
\nMIA receives Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cameron Johnson, Pat Connaughton
\nBOS receives Terry Rozier, Nic Claxton, MIL 2031 1st Rd. Pick
\nBKN receives Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Kuzma, Sam Hauser, BOS 2026 2nd Rd. Pick, BOS 2027 1st Rd. Pick<\/p>\n

For Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas takes advantage of a Giannis to Miami trade request and Boston\u2019s crippling luxury tax roster to land a defensive minded guard who can run the offense and play off-ball and complement Kyrie Irving once he returns from injury. Holiday might not be a premier guard anymore, but he still has the chops to be serviceable in that regard. The Mavericks still retain Gafford to dangle in trade conversations to add to this haul. They have to take back some salary like Slo-Mo\u2019s contract to ensure all the numbers match up, but it\u2019s nothing that pushes them over the first apron, which gives them ample flexibility to shape the roster. The addition of Boston\u2019s 2025 first round pick and a 2028 Miami pick swap gives them assets to build around Cooper Flagg or package along with contracts (Slo-Mo, Caleb Martin, Gafford) to get a better player.<\/p>\n

For Milwaukee<\/p>\n

Like the Giannis to San Antonio trade scenario, Milwaukee gets to save face by adding Anthony Davis to the roster, allowing them to avoid having to blow everything up and march towards a full rebuild. They also get a knock-down shooter on an expiring contract in Duncan Robinson, as well as a promising playmaking forward in Nikola Jovic in the deal to add to their retooled roster. The addition of Golden State\u2019s first round pick (20th, via MIA from the Jimmy Butler trade), a 2026 Miami pick swap, and a 2029 first round pick gives them assets and flexibility to aid in the soft rebuild now that Giannis is gone. <\/p>\n

For Miami:<\/p>\n

Heat Culture wins again with Giannis in the fold, who pairs with Bam Adebayo to form a devastating All-Defense frontcourt in a weakened Eastern Conference. They also add Cameron Johnson from Brooklyn, making four-fifths of their starting lineup of Giannis, Bam, Herro and Johnson formidable against most opposition. That they have to sacrifice most of their available picks to enable all of this is something that Pat Riley has proven he\u2019s amenable to, time and time again, to bring a winning team to Miami.<\/p>\n

For Boston<\/p>\n

Boston, facing a roster charge of upwards of $500 million (salaries + luxury tax) and a season without Jayson Tatum, hits the reset button on the roster and sheds as many moveable contracts as it can without sacrificing its core players of Tatum, Brown and White. They have to take back Rozier\u2019s expiring contract to make the numbers match, and the addition of Nic Claxton in the deal means that they still have a reliable big man on the roster, so that they\u2019re still able to field a playoff-caliber roster while Tatum makes his way back from his Achilles tear.<\/p>\n

For Brooklyn<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Nets<\/a> jump at the opportunity to take advantage of Boston\u2019s salary issues and the Giannis trade request by taking back the expiring contract of Kristaps Porzingis as well as Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Kuzma. They still have a top 10 pick in this year\u2019s draft \u2013 perfect for adding a playmaking guard (or they could bring DeAngelo Russell back), allowing them to field a competent 6\/7\/8 seed team in a weak Eastern Conference. The fact that Kuzma\u2019s and Wiggins\u2019 deals are only for two years means that it doesn\u2019t impact their long-term salary structure, allowing them to hit the reset button in the future if required without sacrificing any draft capital to facilitate it.<\/p>\n

Scenario 5: The Rockets make their play for Giannis & the Celtics swing for a short-term fix<\/p>\n

Houston convinces Giannis that his best chance at a title is in red, along with their young and hungry core, while Boston makes a desperate play for contention by trading for Anthony Davis while shedding salary to avoid paying an insane luxury tax bill.<\/p>\n

The trade<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A five team trade that sends Giannis Antetokounmpo to Houston<\/p>\n

Summary<\/p>\n

DAL receives Fred VanVleet, Cam Whitmore, BOS 2025 1st Rd. Pick (#28), BOS 2026 1st Rd. Pick Swap, HOUS 2026 2nd Rd. Pick, MEM 2027 2nd Rd. Pick (via HOU), BOS 2031 1st Rd. Pick
\nHOU receives Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday
\nMIL receives Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr. Nic Claxton, PHX 2025 1st Rd. Pick (#10, via HOU), PHX 2027 1st Rd. Pick (via HOU), HOU 2028 1st Rd. Pick Swap
\nBOS receives Anthony Davis
\nBKN receives Kristaps Porzingis, Kyle Kuzma, Sam Hauser, JD Davison, BOS 2026 2nd Rd. Pick, BOS 2027 1st Rd. Pick, BKN 2027 1st Rd. Pick (Regain their own pick from HOU), MIL 2031 1st Rd. Pick (Lottery Protected)<\/p>\n

For Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas turns the Boston Celtics\u2019 desperation, both in terms of contention and saving costs, into Fred VanVleet on an expiring contract and a young scorer in Cam Whitmore, along with a bunch of picks to add to their war chest. This allows them the flexibility of playing out the season and then pivoting to larger moves in the summer of 2026, or turning VanVleet’s expiring contract into something more. They still retain the option of trading Daniel Gafford to add some more assets to the roster.<\/p>\n

For Houston<\/p>\n

The Rockets use their cache of picks and young stars to land the big fish in Giannis, and Dallas helping them out means that they add Giannis\u2019 old friend in Jrue Holiday to the mix as well. The combination of Sengun, Giannis, Amen Thompson, Jrue Holiday & Dillon Brooks should make them an instant contender \u2013 more than a match for Oklahoma City and any other team in a loaded Western Conference. <\/p>\n

For Milwaukee<\/p>\n

Giannis asking to go to Houston in this scenario doesn\u2019t turn out all bad, as they land a promising pair of young stars in Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr., along with the coveted Phoenix picks to allow them to shape the roster. They send one of the picks to Brooklyn to land Nic Claxton, giving them a formidable, young roster capable of contending in a weak Eastern Conference, while waiting for Damian Lillard to recover from his Achilles injury.<\/p>\n

For Boston<\/p>\n

Boston, looking at an impossible roster charge and the possibility of a lost season, finally acts on its long-standing interest in Anthony Davis to form a defensive monster in the East. The pairing of Davis and Jaylen Brown, along with Derrick White, should be enough to tread water till Tatum recovers from his injury, upon which they should resume their status as Eastern Conference favorites. For Davis, this gives him a chance to contend on a roster that has yearly championship ambitions and in a conference that isn\u2019t as much of a bloodbath as the West. Joe Mazzulla is the kind of coach who would convince AD that playing the 5 would be the best for him and the team as a whole. As with Scenario 4, they shed a whole bunch of salary to get under second apron, opening up the flexibility to make moves to build up the depth of their squad. Unfortunately, they have to sacrifice a lot of their draft assets to do so in this scenario.<\/p>\n

For Brooklyn<\/p>\n

See Scenario 4 (minus Andrew Wiggins). Also, they get the rights to their own pick back in 2027 for giving up Nic Claxton.<\/p>\n

Scenario 6: Kevin Durant to Houston again, but Denver gets involved this time<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant cryptically tweets nonsense about Matt Ishbia and gets his way out of Phoenix and to Houston. The Denver Nuggets, fresh off a second round loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, make a play to upgrade the depth around the Joker.<\/p>\n

The trade<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A five team trade scenario that involves Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, Denver and Sacramento<\/p>\n

Summary<\/p>\n

DAL gets Fred VanVleet, Aaron Holiday, Cam Whitmore, BKN 2027 1st Rd. Pick, MEM 2027 2nd Rd. Pick (via HOU), DEN 2028 1st Rd. Pick Swap
\nPHX gets Anthony Davis, Zeke Nnaji, Devin Carter, PHX 2025 1st Rd. Pick (#10, via HOU), PHX 2027 1st Rd. Pick (via HOU), HOU 2028 2nd Rd. Pick
\nHOU gets Kevin Durant, Cody Martin
\nDEN gets Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, Vasilje Micic, Jock Landale, HOU 2026 2nd Rd. Pick
\nSAC gets Michael Porter Jr. Royce O\u2019Neale, Dario Saric, DEN 2026 1st Rd. Pick Swap, DEN 2031 1st Rd. Pick<\/p>\n

For Dallas<\/p>\n

Like Scenario 5, Dallas turns AD into Vanvleet and his expiring contract along with Cam Whitmore and a couple of picks to add to their collection of assets. That 2027 Brooklyn pick could be an interesting asset to hold on to, considering the Nets\u2019 current trajectory. They still hold on to the option of trading Gafford and\/or PJ Washington and Caleb Martin to net a bigger fish if they want to.<\/p>\n

For Phoenix<\/p>\n

Devin Booker not asking out and Anthony Davis getting traded to them means that they get a big-name player to fill the void left by Kevin Durant. The movement of pieces also places them under the second apron, allowing them more flexibility in reshaping their roster. The fact that they regain their 2025 and 2027 picks means that they aren\u2019t staring down the barrel of non-contention with no avenue of roster improvement.<\/p>\n

For Houston<\/p>\n

The Rockets add their superstar scorer without sending out any of the likes of Green, Smith Jr. or Amen Thompson, which makes them one of the favorites for the two seed in the West behind Oklahoma City next season. They do have to give up a lot of picks to enable this, though, but that doesn\u2019t seem like a big deal considering that this is a roster already stacked with talent and ready to contend.<\/p>\n

For Denver<\/p>\n

The Nuggets get off Porter Jr.\u2019s albatross contract and add some depth scoring off the bench in Monk and Murray. They have to take back some salary, like Micic and Landale, to make the numbers work, but they\u2019re small enough that they can be aggregated into a larger deal. To get to this point, though, they\u2019re going to have to offload more picks to make it work, leaving them dangerously thin on that account. This means that their next play in building the roster around Nikola Jokic is trading one or both of Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.<\/p>\n

For Sacramento<\/p>\n

Sacramento uses its cap space by taking back Michael Porter Jr. and his contract and getting a pick back for their troubles. They also gain another pick in trading away Malik Monk and Keegan Murray. The Kings are a prime \u2018blow it up and tank\u2019 squad soon after trading De\u2019Aaron Fox, which means that any assets that they can get would be useful in maneuvering their roster to fit their needs.<\/p>\n

So, what did you guys think? Some of these scenarios are far-fetched \u2013 that\u2019s true. That being said, if we\u2019ve learnt anything from this past season, it\u2019s that nothing that we can think of can be considered too crazy. It started with the KAT to New York trade, then the Mikal Bridges bonanza, the Luka trade (Sigh\u2026), the firings of Taylor Jenkins & Michael Malone \u2013 Phew! <\/p>\n

The NBA is now officially in the all-gloves-off mode, and the new CBA is going to only going to make crazy moves the norm. As a Mavericks fan, though, I\u2019m hoping that our crazy GM and front office get sensible and look at Anthony Davis as the viable trade asset that he is, and not with rose-tinted glasses. <\/p>\n

This team\u2019s calculus changed with the Draft Lottery win. Now it\u2019s time to make the right moves to ensure that we don\u2019t have to hope for lottery luck to ensure continued contention for the next decade.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Our man Sudarshan initially wrote a monstrous story about his rationale for the Mavericks needing to trade Anthony Davis, so we\u2019re splitting it into a three part series. You can read Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a> in case you missed it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days ago, I laid out the expansive case for moving on from Anthony Davis. Yesterday I started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[514,7,686,149,4057,4477,95,28,1093,1029,166,4447,174,175,6,14554,1812,2146,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-63125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-anthony","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-dallasmavericks","13":"tag-davis","14":"tag-for","15":"tag-front-page","16":"tag-is","17":"tag-man","18":"tag-mavericks","19":"tag-mavericks-roster","20":"tag-mavs","21":"tag-moneyball","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-odd","24":"tag-out","25":"tag-part","26":"tag-the"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114589351670698268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63125","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=63125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}