Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks Don’t Have Meaningful Traction On Anthony Davis Trade
The Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks don’t have meaningful traction on an Anthony Davis trade, according to NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
The Hawks are interested in trading for Davis, who is making $54.1 million this season.
The Mavericks are believed to be willing to discuss trades for anyone on the roster not named Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving, per Stein.
Dallas wants to acquire Zaccharie Risacher from Atlanta in a Davis trade, sources told Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal. The Mavericks have no interest in acquiring Trae Young, who is available for the right price, sources told Afseth.
Davis’ agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group, would be high on the Hawks as a potential destination for his client if trade talks got serious, per Stein.
“There is no meaningful traction at the moment, league sources say, in trade talks between Atlanta and Dallas on an Anthony Davis swap,” Stein wrote. “As The Stein Line reported in this space last Sunday, Atlanta’s willingness to absorb Davis’ salary could well depend on its ability to find a new home via trade for Trae Young. Shipping out multiple expiring contracts in a theoretical Davis deal — with the 32-year-old under contract for more than $58 million next season and holding a player option for 2027-28 worth nearly $63 million — would be very, very pricey for the Hawks. Then imagine, if Atlanta were to make that move, Young deciding to follow up by exercising his $49 million player option for 2026-27. Expensive wouldn’t begin to describe it for a team historically averse to the luxury tax.
“We also noted last week that ‘it is also increasingly believed that Atlanta is willing to surrender Zaccharie Risacher in the proverbial right scenario’ … but sources with knowledge of Atlanta’s thinking have signaled this week to multiple outlets — including this one — that the Hawks do not believe an in-season swing for Davis meets those parameters when it comes to 2024’s No. 1 overall pick. The Mavericks are believed to be willing to discuss trades for anyone on the roster not named Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving, but that hardly guarantees that a Davis deal will materialize before the Feb. 5 trade buzzer. Maybe such a deal does. A no-less-distinct possibility: Dallas might be forced to wait until closer to the draft, like Phoenix did before the Kevin Durant trade market crystallized in June, for palatable offers to materialize.
“Davis’ agent Rich Paul has an open line of communication in Dallas with numerous figures, from co-interim GMs Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi to coach Jason Kidd to owner Patrick Dumont, with whom he has maintained a dialogue dating to their introduction last spring at a Play-In Tournament game in Sacramento. It all suggests that Davis wouldn’t simply be dispatched somewhere without a level of collaboration with his camp … with more than one whisper relayed to us in recent days to suggest that Paul would be high on Atlanta as a potential destination for his client if trade talks got serious.”
A future Hall of Famer, Davis is eligible for a four-year, $275 million maximum extension in August. The 2020 NBA champion will make $58.5 million next season and has a player option worth $62.8 million for the 2027-28 season.
Sources told Afseth that Davis will seek a contract extension from the Mavericks in the offseason if he doesn’t get traded this season. If Dallas does trade Davis, the Chicago native and Paul will pursue an extension with the team he gets traded to.
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