Trading Anthony Davis sparks debate. The Mavericks secure future flexibility and valuable picks, betting on Cooper Flagg's inevitable rise.
The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and the Dallas Mavericks are one of the teams who was very active.
Perhaps the biggest move of the deadline was them trading Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards, which already is shaping up to be a move that you either love or don't understand.
But one of the people who seems to be on board with it is Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey.
In his recent article, he lists who he thinks are the biggest winners and the biggest losers from this year's deadline. And one of the teams that is on the right side of his list is the Mavericks.
"If you can divorce the Dallas Mavericks' trade of Anthony Davis from last season's still inexplicable Luka Dončić deal, it's not hard to spin this week as a win for the organization," Bailey writes. "It's been clear, almost painfully so, for the duration of this season that Anthony Davis simply did not make sense for a team built and developing around Cooper Flagg."
Some think that the haul Dallas got for Davis is not enough, but that is assuming that the future Hall of Fame big man can stay healthy.
And that is not something he has been able to do for long as of late.
First-round picks were a part of the deal with the Wizards, which is probably about as much as the Mavs could have expected for a big man who is 33 and constantly injured.
So they will take what they can get, especially since it distances them from the Nico Harrison era in Dallas.
It also now gives them a lot more flexibility to build around the new face of their franchise, Cooper Flagg.
He is playing the best basketball of his young career right now, and he is showing that he could live up to the massive expectations that were placed on him coming into the league.
So while it might feel wrong at first to trade player of AD's caliber, it will be better for the Mavericks in the long run.