(12-09-2025, 08:37 AM)Smitty Wrote: Breaking News from Shams Charania
Anthony Davis of the Dallas Mavericks, another former NBA champion, is expected to be a critical trade target of several teams, including many of the East's contenders. The Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors are expected to be suitors for Davis, league sources told ESPN.
The Mavericks are open to exploring the trade markets for Davis, center Daniel Gafford and guards Klay Thompson and D'Angelo Russell, sources said. Davis' agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, has met with Mavericks interim co-general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi, and requested clarity about whether the franchise wants to extend Davis in the offseason or trade him ahead of the deadline. Finley and Riccardi accepted the message and stated the franchise wants to keep its options open and view how the team plays for the next few weeks. They have not ruled out the possibility of an extension.
The Pistons (19-5), Raptors (15-10) and Hawks (14-11) represent high-level threats in their conference and are having seasons that give hope that a player like Davis -- a 10-time All-Star who has spent his entire career in the Western Conference -- can elevate them into a viable championship-quality team.
Davis, who turns 33 in March, will become eligible Aug. 6 to sign up to a four-year, $275 million max extension. The extension would pay him $76 million in his age-37 season. Without an extension, he can be a free agent in 2027 if he declines his $62.8 million player option that offseason.
Thompson, who joined Dallas during free agency in July 2024, was sold on joining the Mavericks to play alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on a team coming off a run to the Finals. With Doncic gone and the franchise winning at a below-.500 clip, teams across the league know Thompson prefers to be part of a contender over the remaining two years of his three-year, $50 million deal. After a slow start to the season, the four-time champion is averaging 12.8 points per game on 39.5% 3-point shooting in his past 10 games while holding opponents to 38.5% shooting as their closest defender, which ranks 10th out of 120 guards to defend 50-plus shots since the stretch began.
Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont has taken a patient approach since firing general manager Nico Harrison on Nov. 11. Dumont has relied on Finley, Riccardi, coach Jason Kidd and minority owner Mark Cuban in his front office corps, and has given Finley and Riccardi the power to lead conversations on the franchise's future. A GM search is still expected in the offseason, and Finley and Riccardi are expected to be candidates, sources said.
Dallas has wanted to evaluate its roster as much as possible, even as Irving, who tore his ACL in March, is out indefinitely. At 9-16, the Mavericks are out of the play-in picture, and the 2026 draft is the last one in their control until 2031, providing a pathway to retool the roster at the deadline, acquire future assets and similarly position the team next June as when it lucked into No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.
Teams are already preparing for conversations with the Mavericks at the deadline, and those talks could create significant decisions leaguewide.
Working through possibilities with each of the 3 teams listed, and what a potential AD package could be centered around, the Hawks are the only ones that really interest me.
Porzingis (expiring), Risacher (#1 overall pick 2024), '26 Pelicans FRP
Klay to LAL makes sense. Gafford to CHI or IND? Maybe DLO to someone like MIN or MIL.