It has been announced that the Dallas Mavericks are trading Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards. The Raptors had also been pursuing Davis as a potential new center. With him off the table, that means Toronto now needs the Domantas Sabonis trade to work with the Sacramento Kings
A year ago, the entire NBA was turned upside down when the Mavericks traded generational superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. No one saw it coming, mainly because no one thought Dallas would ever be crazy enough to give up someone like Doncic.
Those people severely underestimated how bad then general manager Nico Harrison was at his job. The Mavs caught a lucky bounce when they drafted Cooper Flagg, but even he isn't enough to make up for all of the injuries Dallas has had this season, 50% of which were just to Davis.
Dallas has now traded Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, Dante Exum, and D'Angelo Russell to the Wizards, effectively eliminating the last vestiges of Harrison's disastrous reign as general manager. In exchange, the Mavericks got Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, and Marvin Bagley III.
The Anthony Davis trade puts pressure on the Raptors
There is an interesting side effect to this trade. Toronto wants to improve their situation at center, with their two main targets being Anthony Davis and Domantas Sabonis. Now that Davis is no longer available, that leaves the Raptors with one main trade option left in the form of Sabonis.
While the Kings and Raptors have been discussing this trade, there seems to be two main sticking points. Sacramento wants a first-round draft pick Toronto doesn't want to give up. On the flipside, the Raptors want the Kings to take Jakob Poeltl and his absurd contract, which the Kings do not want.
Davis no longer being an option for the Raptors means their front office now has to get real serious about making the Sabonis work. That means letting a first-round draft pick go and/or giving up on moving Poeltl to the Kings. If Toronto wants Sabonis, something is definitely going to have to give.
The environment surrounding the trade deadline is all about cause and effect. Dallas makes a trade with Washington, and the negotiations between Sacramento and Toronto are directly impacted. How this plays out remains to be seen, but fans will have their answers tomorrow at the latest.