The Dallas Mavericks' solid home stretch recently has been greeted with an underwhelming bit of news - and subsequent controversy - in the Anthony Davis saga.
How did the Dallas Mavericks celebrate their seventh win over the last eight home games, a wire-to-wire victory over the inferior Brooklyn Nets?
By receiving unfortunate news that Anthony Davis' ligament damage in his left hand is expected to require surgery, which ESPN reports is likely and will sit the 10-time All-Star for the next few months.
This is where the controversy comes in.
Shortly after the news spread throughout social media, Davis picked up his phone and offered a rebuttal.
"Yall better stop listening to all these lies on these apps!" Davis chirped on X.
It's unclear exactly what Davis was referring to, as ESPN's Shams Charania added to his surgery report that the Mavs are "renewing" trade talks with teams interested in acquiring Davis. He's mentioned that he's in pursuit of a max contract extension, though that does not match with Dallas' timeline to build around phenom Cooper Flagg.
Though many believe Davis' latest injury, and extended history of unavailability, to be a concern that tanks his trade value, this timeline for a return from hand surgery falls right around the postseason, meaning a contending team could go all-in on acquiring Davis with hopes that he can return for a late-season push into the NBA Playoffs.
Teams such as the Golden State Warriors Toronto Raptors have been reported as interested and might consider this possibility.
Davis also commented under various outlets sharing the news to call out their "lies".
Now whether Davis was clapping back at surgery or trade rumors, the fact of the matter is that this controversy comes in the middle an already "unfortunate situation," as role player Naji Marshall explained.
"It's an unfortunate situation, especially since we feel like he's trending in the right direction," Marshall said about Davis' injury before the Mavericks' win over Brooklyn.
"Next man up mentality, kinda like last year. We have some guys step up, and just go out there and keep fighting, try to get dubs."
There have surprisingly been a lot of "dubs" inside American Airlines Center as of late for Dallas. The Mavs entered Monday's game with the second-best home winning percentage since December 1 at 6-1.
That now improves by one after Flagg's 27 points, five rebounds and five assists powered Dallas to its first win since Davis got hurt. AD's injury came in the final moments of the Mavericks' close loss at Utah on Thursday Jan. 8, which was followed by a blowout defeat in Davis' hometown of Chicago on Saturday.
The Mavericks will have plenty of opportunities to keep things rolling at home as 10 of their next 15 games are at the friendly confines of the AAC. Dallas can use this stretch to improve its 12th-place standing in the Western Conference with games against the Denver Nuggets (whom they've beaten twice already) the Utah Jazz (back-to-back matchups) coming up this week.
