On February 5, the official 2026 NBA Trade Deadline, the Washington Wizards decided to make an unexpected move, trading for 10x all-star, NBA champion, and member of the official NBA 75th Anniversary Team, Anthony Davis. As a lifelong Wizards fan I’m here to give my thoughts on the deal and my grades from each side.
The final deal:
Wizards receive:
Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, and Dante Exum (waived)
Mavericks receive:
Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Marvin Bagley III, Malaki Branham (rerouted), 2 first round picks and 3 second round picks.
Trade Grades:
Wizards: A-
The Wizards made a very low-risk, high-reward move trading for Anthony Davis. While Davis is notoriously labeled as injury prone, the Wizards still kept all of their draft assets, didn’t trade any of their notable young players, and are still on track to land one of the top college stars in the draft like AJ Dybansta, Darryn Peterson, or Cameron Boozer.
This trade from Wizards’ General Manager Will Dawkins shows a clear direction for 2027. With the additions of Trae Young, Anthony Davis, and a top 5 pick alongside rising-stars Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George makes this Wizards team look deadly. A scary defensive frontcourt of Sarr and Davis, the scoring and playmaking talent of Trae Young, and additional pieces such as Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, and Bilal Coulibaly projects them as a competitive roster for the first time since the days of Bradley Beal and John Wall.
Mavericks: C+
The Mavericks finally decided to move in the right direction and build their future around their rising superstar Cooper Flagg, which I commend them for not staying complacent like so many franchises do. They also benefited a lot financially from this trade, saving hundreds of million dollars by trading Anthony Davis’ 3 year 175 million dollar contract for Khris Middleton’s 1 year 33 million dollar expiring contract.
While all of this sounds great, the Mavericks still received very little value for Anthony Davis, who just a year ago headlined the Luka Doncic trade. In addition, they received no major players from the Wizards while receiving very low first round picks, getting the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round pick (projected 30th) and the Warriors’ 2030 first round pick that is protected from picks 1-20, so not very valuable. Overall a very disappointing package, but there is still hope among Mavericks fans with Cooper Flagg
