Mavericks Deal Anthony Davis to Wizards One Year After Luka Trade

The Mavericks are giving up on the Anthony Davis experiment, a year and two days after trading away Luka Dončić for the 6-foot-10 center. 

They reportedly shipped the 10-time All-Star to the Wizards in a trade that also sent Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, and Dante Exum to Washington while Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, and Marvin Bagley III will head to Dallas. The Mavericks will also acquire two first-round picks and three second-round picks in the trade. 

The Davis acquisition comes roughly a month after the Wizards acquired All-Star point guard Trae Young from the Hawks for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert. 

Young has yet to play for the Wizards as he nurses a knee sprain while Davis has been out since Jan. 8 with a left hand injury. Young is making $46 million this season, according to Spotrac, while Davis is making $54 million, giving the Wizards an $100 million All-Star duo nursing injuries.

The Wizards are 13–36, second-worst in the Eastern Conference, and have a first-round pick that would convey to the Knicks if it falls outside of the top eight.

Davis and Young come to Washington with similar issues. Both are extension-eligible this summer and were unlikely to get a new deal with their former team due to their injury histories, and in Young’s case, a lack of team success. 

The Wizards entered the season with one of the youngest rosters in the league, with 11 players on rookie-scale contracts and players such as McCollum and Middleton on expiring deals, which would create $100 million in cap space for the 2026 offseason. 

Now that money could be going toward two unreliable star players. Davis played in just 29 games for the Mavericks since he was traded to Dallas in February 2025. Davis’s injury is expected to sideline him for six weeks and both he and Young will be re-evaluated by the team’s medical staff after the All Star break. 

Davis is eligible for a four-year extension worth as much as $275 million this summer while Young could sign for a maximum of four years and $229 million.