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Winners and Losers from Mavericks-Wizards' Blockbuster Anthony Davis Trade
On Wednesday, around 24 hours shy of the NBA's annual trade deadline, news broke of a blockbuster trade between the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards.
Anthony Davis is headed to the Eastern Conference to join Trae Young, while the Mavericks picked up a solid haul of assets to supplement the rebuild around Cooper Flagg.
Given the relative positions of both organizations, this feels like a classic win-win deal, but almost every trade creates a "loser" somewhere.
We'll find the teams and players on either side of the "winners and losers" line below.
Winner: Washington Wizards
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When you view this deal from a certain perspective, it looks like an absolute coup for the Wizards.
Bradley Beal's most recent claim to NBA fame is helping to torpedo the superteam Phoenix Suns. Kyle Kuzma's volume shooting has been a key ingredient for losing basketball for years.
Eventually turning those two into Trae Young (a bad defender but still one of the best playmakers in the league) and Davis (a post-prime and injury-prone big man but still one of the most talented rim protectors in the NBA) makes it pretty easy to put Washington in this column.
Those two have games that seem almost tailor-made for the other. Young is a dynamic pick-and-roll creator who'll generate tons of open looks at the rim for Davis. And Davis is the kind of high-impact interior defender who can cover for a lot of Young's flaws on that end.
Surrounding them with the intriguing (and developing) supporting cast that's already there, plus another high pick from a loaded 2026 draft class, could make the Wizards fringe contenders in the East as early as 2027.
Possible Loser: Wizards Injury Reports
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Of course, Davis only appeared in 51 games last season. As a Laker, he missed more than half a campaign twice. And in 2025-26, he's appeared in just 40 percent of Dallas' games.
There's obviously a chance this trend continues in Washington. And we've already seen the ceiling of teams with Trae Young and no other stars.
If AD can't get and stay relatively healthy, the Wizards will probably top out as a 40-win team that has to survive the play-in to make the playoffs.
If that's the case for the life of Davis' contract (which comes with a player option for 2027-28), giving up five draft picks (even if they don't look terribly valuable right now) and an intriguing young talent (AJ Johnson) will look bad in hindsight.
Of course, no trade is guaranteed to age well. This one might just be a little less likely, given AD's age and injury history.
Winner: Dallas Mavericks
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Prior to news of this deal breaking, it felt like there was a world in which Dallas might have to salary dump AD.
He turns 33 in March. His struggles with availability aren't likely to get any less severe over the next few years. His game, with all its mid-range shots, is far from modern. And given how wonky his fit alongside Cooper Flagg is, it would've been reasonable for suitors to lowball Dallas, assuming it might be desperate to unload Davis.
So, despite the fact that the 2026 first-rounder involved here ultimately came from the Oklahoma City Thunder (in other words, it will be near the end of that round) and the 2030 first-rounder is protected, the Mavs getting multiple bites at multiple draft apples (there are three second-rounders going to Dallas, too) is a win.
On top of that, AJ Johnson is only 21 years old and Marvin Bagley III has been playing well enough to maybe be re-routed in another trade.
Davis never made longterm sense alongside Flagg, and the Mavs are clearly thinking about the bigger picture now.
Winners: Anthony Davis and Trae Young
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We broke this down in further detail here, but Young and Davis were both on the wrong side of Luka Dončić trades. And much of the analysis of them was understandably done through that lens.
Now, they have a chance to help each other ditch that perception.
Davis can prove that he's capable of being the best player on a contender. He can try to make fans and analysts regret calling his trade from L.A. to Dallas the worst in NBA history.
Young can work more off the ball. He can give more effort on defense. He can help turn AD into one of the league's most dangerous pick-and-roll finishers.
Both have fresh starts in front of them in Washington. And both could dramatically alter the way their NBA legacies are seen.
Ultimate Loser: 'The Luka Trade'
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It's worth remembering that Cooper Flagg was not a part of Nico Harrison's "vision" for the Luka Dončić trade. That simply cannot be factored into the ultimate analysis of the deal.
The return in this AD trade can, though. And even if you factor in what Dallas got for Davis, the ultimate haul for Luka looks absolutely terrible.
Dončić was a soon-to-be-26-year-old, five-time First Team All-NBA playmaker, who'd already taken the Mavericks much deeper than they had any business going in two different playoff runs. It was not an overstatement to say Luka was an all-time great at the time he was moved.
The package, at the time, made no sense. Davis was past his prime, often unavailable and played a far less valuable position in the modern game.
Yes, what Dallas got for him, in a vacuum, can be classified as a win. It probably wasn't going to get anymore from anyone else.
But swapping Luka for Max Christie, a 2026 pick from the Thunder (which will be 30th in this draft), a 2029 pick from the Lakers (who'll have Luka to push that one down the draft board), a 2030 pick from the Warriors (but only if it's in the bottom 10) and three second-rounders makes it one of the worst trades in NBA history.
