Analyzing the Anthony Davis Trade
On the Anthony Davis trade, why it was a necessity to set up the Cooper Flagg era in Dallas, what the Wizards could do next, and how they may view the Davis experience in the long run.
Last week’s trade deadline ended with a record number of trades. We didn’t get a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but we did see another unlikelier big name get moved. The Wizards came out of the trade deadline with two recent All-Stars: Trae Young and, recently, Anthony Davis. Nobody saw the Wizards making these moves… except the guys at Third Apron.
Last month, the Wizards acquired Young in an opportunistic move aimed at developing the young players and making a push toward the Play-In Tournament next season. Roughly a week earlier, Third Apron released its Southeast Division trade deadline preview.
In it, Sam mentioned the Wizards as a suitor for Young and suggested a framework that would send him and Kristaps Porzingis to Washington for CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton. The Wizards would acquire Young for McCollum and Corey Kispert.
In that same week, Davis injured ligaments in his hand. The injury was so severe that surgery, which would likely end his season, became a serious possibility. A few days after ESPN reported that Davis would not get surgery, I texted Sam a trade proposal that would send Davis to the Wizards. The idea is that they already made a big “win-later” trade in Young – why not do the same for Davis?
The trade I came up with was also a four-for-four trade between the Mavericks and Wizards, with 5 of the 8 players proposed actually ending up in the real trade. It would’ve put the Wizards slightly into the luxury tax. But they’d have enough draft equity leftover to reroute a player and save more money.
The Third Apron Podcast is the top show for hypothetical NBA trades. I felt this trade was a bit too unrealistic to prioritize discussing on the show, so I never shared it. I apologize and promise not to hold back on our listeners anymore.
