Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[KillerLeft]

[Amick] league sources say Davis’ representatives do not believe there’s an extension agreement to be had with the Mavericks in the upcoming offseason. As such, … there is a strong desire from Davis’ camp to get him traded to a destination where they feel an extension would be more likely.


[Amick] Anthony Davis is believed to be open to a trade with the Hawks or Raptors, two teams who have shown legitimate interest recently
While the Hawks are in the process of trying to trade Trae Young, league sources say [Dallas] doesn't have an appetite to take back Youngs contracts in exchange for Davis.

This is basically what I thought was going on the second they started leaking stuff about trading him (whoever is doing the leaking), and why I haven't been worried about an extension at all. 

The trade desire isn't from the Mavericks, it's from the people focused on getting Davis his next huge extension, and it's because they know a team building around a 19 year old won't want to give him one. That has seemed fairly obvious to me from the start.

I think this is great news, as essentially the Mavericks are the least motivated of all three parties (them, Davis's camp and whatever team(s) are trying to acquire him) to get it done. I imagine that's the best scenario in terms of extracting maximum return, whatever that might be. It's the opposite of the position they've almost always been in for past negotiations. They bought PJW and Gafford, for example. They bought Kyrie. Here, they are selling Davis, and while the goal in all cases is to improve your team's circumstances, I think being on this end of the deal is a little different and requires a different mindset. All they really have to do is wait patiently for some owner/GM to convince themselves they must have Davis, and the deal might end up being better than some of us believe. Might.