Should Mavs Trade Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis? 'Absolutely,' Says NBA Exec

Having turned the page on the Nico Harrison era earlier this week, the next step for the Dallas Mavericks could be a teardown of the current roster to being the rebuild process around Cooper Flagg.

As one executive for an Eastern Conference team told ESPN's Tim Bontemps, the Mavericks should "absolutely" look to deal both Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

The pro-trade argument seems obvious because the Mavs currently own a 3-9 record, rank last in the NBA in points per game and 29th in offensive rating.

Davis and Irving, while incredibly talented players, don't fit the timeline of a team whose primary focus right now has to be on developing Flagg. Irving is 33 and Davis is 32, both are signed through next season with player options for 2027-28 and unreliable at this point in their careers because of injuries.

As a result of some of the trades Harrison made, the Mavericks are very light on draft capital. They do own their first-round pick in 2026, but that's the last one they control until 2031.

Given how strong the upcoming draft looks, that is the pick you would want to have if you can only pick one.

Given how expensive the contracts for both Davis and Irving are, especially if they end up exercising their player options, the Mavericks might not get as much in return for either or both of them as their name recognition would make you think.

Davis is owed $58.5 million next season and $62.8 million on his player option. Irving will make $39.5 million in 2026-27 and $42.4 million on his option the following year.

If one wanted to craft an argument for the Mavericks to keep either or both players, it could be done. We still haven't really seen what the Irving-Davis pairing looks like since they only played one game together in Davis' debut with Dallas on Feb. 8.

The sample we saw looked very good, with Davis putting up 26 points and 16 rebounds in 31 minutes against the Houston Rockets before leaving in the third quarter due to a lower body injury. Irving has yet to play since tearing his ACL on March 3 against the Sacramento Kings.

Putting Irving and Davis into a lineup with Flagg is intriguing on the surface, but really, what's the upside for that group? The odds of them turning this version of the Mavs into a top-tier team in a loaded Western Conference seem low, then you're also running out of time with Irving and Davis in their prime years.

There are several contending teams that could use a player like Davis or Irving to help push them over the top this season. The Mavericks need to add as many future assets as they can to build up a roster around Flagg if they want to get back into the Western Conference hierarchy.