The Mavs just shipped off Anthony Davis. Did the massive haul for the injury-prone star truly pay off? Grading the controversial deadline move.
The NBA trade deadline is quickly approaching at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, and there have already been a number of huge deals.
Perhaps the biggest was the Dallas Mavericks dealing Anthony Davis, Dante Exum, D'Angelo Russell, and Jaden Hardy to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, Malaki Branham, AJ Johnson, Marvin Bagley III, two first-rounders, and three second-rounders.
But one of the first-round picks they are getting is protected if it's in the top 20, and there are many people who are not a fan of that.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report's Dan Favale, he grades every deal that has happened so far ahead of the deadline. And for the AD deal, he gives the Mavericks a less-than-desirable 'D-'.
"Grading this for the Mavs is difficult," Favale writes. "On the one hand, Davis' return is inextricably tied to the Luka Dončić debacle from last season. They have now turned one of the NBA's top-five players into, essentially, Max Christie, the No. 30 pick in June's draft, the Los Angeles Lakers' 2029 first, a could-be-fake 2030 Golden State Warriors first, and three seconds. On the other hand, Nico Harrison isn't running Dallas' front office anymore. The new, decentralized regime is picking up the pieces from the smoldering wreck he left behind."
While this trade might not have been the best one the team could have made, it disconnects them from the Nico Harrison era, which is something I'm sure they are very happy with.
Davis suffered a hand injury in a game against the Utah Jazz early in January that will keep him out until after the All-Star break. Due to this, the team maybe didn't get as much for the future Hall of Fame big man as they would have liked.
But especially if they get the Warriors' first-round pick in 2030 due to it being outside the top 20, I'm sure they are glad to make this deal if it means they could be better equipped to build around the new face of their franchise.
Despite Cooper Flagg living up to expectation in his rookie season, Dallas is not in a spot to contend this season. So by the time AD will be back from injury, they could be even closer to being eliminated from playoff contention.
So the team elected to go ahead and move on from Davis after just 29 games.
And despite the team getting almost a failing grade for this deal, they will take that criticism if it means they can forever be done with the era of Nico.