With rumors swirling about the availability of Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis, he has suddenly become the most likely star to be moved this season. After all, Dallas appears to be in disarray after firing former GM Nico Harrison. Davis is currently their best player and a depreciating asset that should be moved now rather than later.
As a result, they should shop him to the highest bidder, with the Sacramento Kings being a potential landing spot. The Kings continue to be a hot mess, with them already near the bottom of the West standings just 15 games into the season.
However, they have several avenues towards a trade for Davis, with one being of potential interest to the Mavericks.
The Sacramento Kings must trade for Anthony Davis ASAP
There are essentially two different trade packages the Kings could offer the Mavericks for Davis. The first being Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan, and Devin Carter, as well as first-round picks in 2027 and 2029.
That deal would allow the Mavericks to recoup two first-round picks for Davis, which is important considering they only have three total picks in their draft stockpile.
And while DeRozan and Monk don’t make sense on a rebuilding team, they too could be shopped to the highest bidder for multiple second-round picks, or even a first-round pick if the Mavericks are willing to take that long-term salary.
Turning Davis into, say, two firsts and four seconds would make the Luka Doncic trade less of a disaster and jumpstart a Mavericks rebuild.
This Anthony Davis trade makes sense for the Mavs and Kings
The other trade option would see the Kings ship out Zach LaVine, Dario Saric, and two first-round picks for Davis. LaVine is on one of the worst contracts in the NBA, but he’s still a talented player, and his massive contract actually would save the Mavericks money.
After all, his contract only lasts for this season and next season, while Davis’ lasts for two more seasons. That means the Mavericks would save more than $62 million by making this trade. That is not to mention they would be able to shop LaVine after this season with him having a massive $48.9 million expiring contract.
A playoff team with several sketchy contracts could trade for him, allowing them to offload their worst contracts and add a former All-Star for the cost of a first-round pick or two.
The Kings might be the ideal trade partner for the Mavs
That would be an interesting wrinkle to this potential trade, though the main selling points are those two first-round picks. If the Kings believe they can make the playoffs with Davis, then they may be willing to lightly protect their 2027 and 2029 firsts.
Of course, history says that the Kings will fall flat on their face, no matter who is on the roster. Therefore, the Mavericks getting any lightly protected first-round pick from Sacramento would be worth its weight in gold considering they have a chance to be lottery selections.
As a result, if the Kings are interested in a deal for Davis and they were to offer LaVine and two firsts, the Mavs should jump at that trade. That move would allow the Mavericks to hit the reset button on their franchise and begin to rebuild around Cooper Flagg.
