The Dallas Mavericks had one of the worst front offices in the NBA, although trading Anthony Davis and firing Nico Harrison has helped right the ship.
The Dallas Mavericks, up until the moment Nico Harrison traded away Luka Doncic, had one of the better front offices in the NBA.
After all, the team brought in PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Klay Thompson to support Doncic, took a swing on Kyrie Irving, which paid off, and drafted Dereck Lively II in 2023, one of the better young bigs, when he's healthy.
Then, of course, it all came crashing down. The roster was built with Doncic in mind, and then Harrison flipped him to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.
The short-lived Davis experiment didn't work out, and he was moved last month to the Washington Wizards. He is yet to suit up in the capital.
Mavericks Moved On From Horrid Contract
Despite his declining play and injury history, Davis will make $121 million over the next two seasons.
According to a recent ranking, it's the sixth-worst contract in the entire league.
"Davis rarely plays," summed up CBS Sports' Sam Quinn. He's been in the news seemingly since the moment the Lakers traded him, yet in all of that time, he's played just 29 games."
In those 29 games, all with Dallas, he averaged 20.2 points and 10.8 rebounds, with the team going 16-13 with him on the floor. His quality of play has taken a sharp decline in recent seasons, as well.
"Davis is one of the worst reasonably high-volume jump shooters in the NBA," Quinn continued. "Since those three glorious months in the Orlando bubble, he's made just 132 of 512 3-pointers (25.8%). More than 20% of his shots this season came from the mid-range, and he made just 37.8% of them. Getting Davis means signing up for a lot of shots you really don't want him to take."
Add in the health risks and further costs it would take to ink him to a new contract, and moving on from him was clearly the right thing to do.
Dallas has a long way to go before it can once again boast one of the best front offices in the NBA, but after admitting their mistakes and taking the first steps to start from scratch, the team is moving in a good direction.
Plus, with Cooper Flagg leading the way, they could ascend faster than initially expected.