The Mavericks are trading big man Anthony Davis to the Wizards, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, and Dante Exum will also head to Washington in the deal.
In return, the Mavericks will receive Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, and three second-rounders, sources tell Charania.
Those first-rounders will be a “least favorable” 2026 pick that will almost certainly be the Thunder’s, plus the Warriors’ top-20 protected 2030 pick, per Charania. The second-rounders are Phoenix’s 2026 pick, Chicago’s 2027 pick, and Houston’s 2029 selection.
Davis had been on the trade block in Dallas for much of the season, but there was some doubt about whether a deal would materialize after he suffered a hand injury expected to sideline him for least most of February, if not beyond that. Rumored suitors like Atlanta and Toronto appeared to back off to some extent, opening the door for a surprise team like the Wizards to make a deal.
While Washington is an unlikely landing spot for a veteran star like Davis, the 13-36 Wizards are clearly pivoting toward being competitive next season, having acquired four-time All-Star Trae Young from Atlanta last month and now pairing him with a 10-time All-Star in Davis.
According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Wizards would ideally like to use second-year big man Alex Sarr as a “super-sized” and “switchable” power forward and had been seeking another impact frontcourt player to use alongside him. Washington explored a possible deal for Kings center Domantas Sabonis and had considered making a run at Jazz center Walker Kessler in restricted free agency before pulling the trigger on a trade for Davis, Fischer says.
As they did with Young, the Wizards are buying low on Davis amid an injury-plagued season in which he has dealt with several separate health issues and has been limited to 20 appearances. Although the draft-pick haul they’re giving up for AD looks substantial at first glance, the 2026 first-rounder will likely end up at No. 30, while the 2030 selection will turn into a ’30 second-rounder if it lands in the top 20.
Like Young, who has yet to make his Wizards debut as he rests a knee injury, Davis appears unlikely to play much – if at all – during the second half of this season. Washington will owe its 2026 first-round pick to New York if it lands outside the top eight, so the club will likely do all it can to avoid that scenario. Resting its veteran stars should help that cause.
Despite the modest value of the first-round picks changing hands, the Wizards’ package likely appealed to Dallas due to the financial flexibility it will afford the team going forward. Besides moving off Davis’ maximum-salary contract, which will pay him $58.5MM in 2026/27, with a $62.8MM player option for ’27/28, the Mavs will remove Hardy’s $6MM guaranteed salary and Russell’s $6MM player option for ’26/27 from their books.
Besides giving the Mavericks more cap flexibility going forward, the deal will also generate considerable short-term savings, with the Wizards taking advantage of their significant breathing room below the luxury tax line to take on more than $24MM in 2025/26 salary. Dallas had been operating right up against the second tax apron but will move all the way out of apron and tax territory with this move, resulting in $57MM in savings, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan.
Most importantly, the trade lines up the Mavs to begin building around star rookie Cooper Flagg. Dallas will have a pair of first-round picks in a strong 2026 draft, including their own selection which is on track to be a lottery pick. And the team has a much cleaner cap sheet to work with moving forward, even with long-term deals for role players like P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford still on the books.
Still, the return for Davis stands in stark contrast to what they gave up to get him just one year ago. Under former head of basketball operations Nico Harrison, the 32-year-old was the centerpiece of the package the Mavs received for franchise player Luka Doncic. Since making that deal, the franchise has parted ways with Harrison and now done the same with Davis, conceding that it made a major mistake at the 2025 deadline.
Holy Salary Dump!!!
Lol, why is it that Adam schefter broke the news on my phone ha ha ha
And they said there would be no FRP for Davis.
1 is probably OKC which will be near the end.
Wizards also have way too many 2nds for the next 3 seasons.
Im just glad he is gone from the team.
I wouldn’t blame him for the trade that sent him to Mavericks. That colossal mistake is on the ownership and that dumb former GM..Davis was simply a player caught in the middle of a sh*t show front office.
Good hopefully this stops the AD to the Bulls rumors. Tired of seeing them.
I mean it’s the Thunder’s FRP so it’ll be a back end 1st. Plus a top 20 protected pick. So they’re not exactly ‘good’ FRPs.
Im just glad Nico and AD are both gone. The picks will take care of themselves.
Big splash. Did anyone think the Wizards?
Its been a fun deadline so far. Wiz and jazz buying unexpectedly. Bulls have done some decent moves to gain better assets. They can worry about roster construction in offseason.
Jazz got a nice upgrade there too
Sarr and AD together??? With Trae? Alright let’s see what happens now.
Injuries and losing
Sarr will play defense and score a little, Trae will score and play no defense, and AD will cheer them on from the bench
AD does look good in a suit at least.
Guy is so injury prone he has a pocket protector
Maybe the Wizards can get a clothing deal to increase revenue for the team at least. Dress him up like a mannequin on the bench.
Doncic trade just keeps getting better for dallas 😂
They basically traded luka for 3 first rd picks (last years #1 + 2 wiz picks)
Woah. Out of left field
Can I have some of what you’re smoking?
They are in a no-win situation thanks to Nico and Dumont’s f**kery. At least AD is off the books now.
Its the thunder 2026 1st so pick 27-30 and warriors 2030 pick which will most likly be a 2030 2nd
@david
and lakers 1st round 2029 so thats another pick in the 20s
And Christie
And the players in this deal.
One Lakers pick, one at 30, and one that turns into a pumpkin second if its better than 20…
are you tryna say the mavs should NOT have traded doncic??
AD and Trae in the East it could work.
Does show Paul has no real power now, they move his dude to a terrible team right now.
Doesn’t work when street clothes gets hurt every time he plays
Jaren Jackson Jr’s agent is also Rich Paul and he got moved to Utah yesterday so it emphasizes that Rich’s podcast is NOT helping
@jamar
what power does ANY agent have to prevent a trade of their client who has 4/$200 lefty on his contract? You guys have zero concept of how things really work. Paul does the same things other agents do but Paul catches all the arrows. Whatever he does for LBJ is different for all others.
Agents don’t have much power at all. I’m just saying Rich Paul has said where he wants his clients to go and it is funny to see where they actually end up. Rich thinks he has all the power and doesn’t
You think Paul wanted AD moved from the Lakers?
Not necessarily but less taxes in Texas appealed to AD so he made more money. AD wanted to stay in Dallas and behind the scenes Rich was trying to get him moved
@jamar
Power comes from leverage and Paul has used it fairly
In the trade from NO Paul used the fact that AD could walk as a FA to direct him to one of two teams. He let the world know that Boston and LA were the only teams that he would be interested in signing an extension with if traded. This allowed teams to make an informed decision if they wanted to risk their trade assets for a likely one and done player. In the trade from LA to Dallas he had zero leverage because he was under contract. Same with this deal. Mavs could’ve asked if he had any preferences, maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but Paul has no power to influence them, and i doubt he tried.
Could work how? Even fully healthy, which will be almost never, it’s an 8 seed.
@Ancient
Had no power yet has 30 other guys in the NBA? And really, you give agents way too much credit. They can’t curve NBA owners to do dinnering detrimental to their own team.
lol why
Bulls can’t get AD thank god!!!! I was worried this might be one of those lame homecoming PR stunts by Jerry/Michael.
The Mavericks got great value depending on what the specifics are of the 2 FRPs. The Wizards are doing what the Jazz just did (twice). Let Trae and AD sit, compete next year.
Nevermind those picks going to Dallas suck
They weren’t getting premium picks for AD period.
Yeah I know. The Wizards have been smart with their new front office.
Not bad
Does Wizards still have enough salaries for Ja Morant?
It’s about Asset collections
Those picks are basically nothing.
Those first-rounders will be a “least favorable” 2026 pick that will almost certainly be the Thunder’s and the Warriors’ top-20 protected 2030 pick, per Charania. The second-rounders are Phoenix’s 2026 pick, Chicago’s 2027 pick, and Houston’s 2029 selection.
Dallas could now do a Middleton for Morant trade while still staying out of the luxury tax.
And anyone wanting to trade for Morant could always send a cheaper player to Dallas to make salary matching work?
But anyway, a backup deal for Ja Morant is rumoured to be in place with Miami (with Rozier returning). If Miami doesnt want to add anyone, they could use Middleton :)
Anthony Davis can continue wearing his favorite uniform (street clothes) with Trae Young together now in Washington!
Do the wizards think Trae and AD will make them contenders? Lol. AD is talented but I’d be surprised if he plays more than 50 games for them.
He played less than 30 for Dallas the whole time he was there. I’d bank closer to that.
message sent .. hope AD is listening .. he plays less then ten games for the wizards
They should get porzingis too!
Get him off the Hawks lol
I love this move for the mavs, they get money off the books moving into next year and back to having picks and money for the future
It was definitely a business transaction and not a basketball trade. Dallas removes a lot of dollars off the book in salary, recoup some good draft picks. Did not give up much, a broke down big man in Davis, it will never erase the stench of the Doncic trade, but they did receive Christie who looks like a keeper that can stay healthy, and they did draft Flagg. So, it is a good day to be a Maverick fan. Not a great day but a good day.
Now we see the vision 😂
How does Dallas get away with dumping so much salary? What are the wizards thinking? How does this make them better and why give up picks?
It’s the “if he stays healthy” scenario. Kind of like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football every Christmas
Now we know who’s getting the number one pick this year.
AJ Johnson will be probably be the best player out of all this. Hope Jason Kidd can get the most out of him with Cooper.
I wonder if anyone will trade for Kyrie.
He is of no use to the Mavericks now.
First, Holy $#!+; secondly, why make the Trae Young trade then? They would have been better off without having made that trade. Dallas can potentially be pretty versatile; I liked both Branham and AJ Johnson in their drafts, and Middleton can still be extremely useful on the wing/in half court situations. They’ve had several bigs for years at this point, so I dont see that being an issue
I am intrigued by Washington going forward, but I just dont get the Trae Young deal, and understand it even a lot less now
…looking at Washington’s roster, they need help at the 2/3, and defensively at guard, and probably at the 4 as well, though not nearly as pressing as the first 2
I also just realized Dallas getting both Middleton and Branham is funny, b/c Middleton was one of Branham’s comparisons going into his draft.
Utah and Washington about to enter a death match on most absurd reasons for sitting their top players.
Wizards going to be real deal next season.
Young Johnson George Davis Sarr
Carrington Hardy Coulibaly Champagnie …
Plus you have a top 10 pick this year
Yes Trae sucks on defence but Sarr and AD are beast on defence. Both bigs can also shoot a little. You keep all your young wings/forwards. This is so tough for them
I can now officially agree that the Mavs lost the Luka Doncic trade
AD from the Lakers, then Dallas, and now Washington. How long will he be in Washington, better yet if his contract is not bought out, how many games does he play before he goes down with an injury of some sort.
Within 2 years (1?) the Mavs WILL be trading for a big , b/c Flagg needs one to play with and so does Kyrie.
Who will be that big?
I’ll be curious to look back on this deal in a year or two, my gut says this makes the Mavs journey back to relevance much, much longer.
Ant loves playing centre. I like Sarr at 4 some too. theoretically two switchable bigs.