If the Luka Doncic trade had not seemed like a big enough catastrophe in Dallas already…
The Dallas Mavericks are trading Anthony Davis, as well as D’Angelo Russell, Dante Exum and Jaden Hardy to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, and three second-rounders, a trade broken by Shams Charania of ESPN.
What Dallas is doing is saving money — Middleton’s $33.3 million plus the contracts of Branham ($4.9 million) and Bagley ($2.3 million) are all expiring. Plus, the Mavericks don’t have to pay Davis $58.5 million next season (with a player option for $62 million the following season).
Dallas is now in tank mode for the rest of this season. Middleton is the biggest name returning to Dallas, but the 34-year-old former three-time All-Star and Gold Medal winner has been losing the race against Father Time and injuries in recent years. The 34-year-old forward is averaging 20.3 points per game but is shooting 43.35% overall and 33.3% from beyond the arc this season.
If you think Dallas made this trade for the first-rounder picks, those picks are the “least favorable” of OKC’s 2026 picks — which unquestionably will be their own pick, very likely at No. 30 — plus the Warriors’ top-20 protected 2030 pick, Charania reports. The second rounders are Phoenix’s 2026 pick, Chicago’s 2027 pick, and Houston’s 2029 pick.
In the end, Dallas traded Doncic and got back Max Christie, 3 first-round picks, 3 second-round picks, and about $40 million in cap space.
Washington has become the home of distressed assets this trade deadline, first picking up Trae Young for basically matching salaries, and now adding Anthony Davis at a very good value. The Wizards got good value. Davis, when healthy, is still a top-20 player in the league, averaging 20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds a game this season.
With the Wizards tanking — they owe their pick to the Knicks, but it is top-eight protected and, as of today, the fifth-worst record in the league with a less than 1% chance of losing their pick — don’t expect to see Davis the rest of the season. He is already out with a hand injury that had a vague return timeline.
Davis and Young are both expensive, looking for future contracts and have injury histories. That said, the Wizards got them at a good price, and these are experienced, All-Star players with some playoff success who can show a promising young core of Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, and more how to win at the NBA level.
