Anthony Davis' injury exposes brutal flaw in Mavericks' Luka Doncic trade

It's been a crazy week filled with confusion and anger with fans of the Dallas Mavericks in question on where to turn following another week of massive injuries put the team on pause.

Since Daniel Gafford's brutal knee injury took place, the Mavericks' only healthy big is their new center Kylor Kelley, but the resiliency of the team cannot be said enough.

It's been the same formula from the beginning of the season. Earlier in the season, former Maverick Quentin Grimes revealed chilling details of a banged-up locker room like he's never seen before. That same theme has unfortunately continued into the second half of the season, with not much time to make up. Jason Kidd said he has never seen anything like this when it comes to injuries, and the brutal blows just keep rolling in.

Luka Doncic also got his chance to make his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers, after Anthony Davis got injured in his debut, and it didn't take long to see the trade bite Dallas in the worst way possible.

Mavs took the risk and now Davis' injury history could haunt them

As a 31-year-old big, Davis is no doubt one of the most dominant players of his time, but his injury history was pointed as one of the first thoughts among Mavs fans once this unfathomable trade went through. He is now expected to miss multiple weeks with this adductor injury, and once he returns, the Mavericks will have been without the superstar of the team healthy for nearly three months (since Doncic missed significant time and now Davis is out).

Luka Doncic at 25 years old, just led the NBA in scoring in the season prior and arguably had his best season in his NBA career. His injury on Christmas Day that kept him out for over a month was likely the longest stretch of games he had missed consecutively in his career.

For management to think that Doncic wouldn't be able to stay healthy over the course of his career and end up in a Zion Williamson or Kawhi Leonard situation may end up being far from the truth. Predicting what might come isn't a strong enough reason to trade one of the greatest players in the world in his prime.

Unless Doncic was going to miss more than 100 games in the next two seasons, this wasn't a reason to trade him, especially because the Mavs would've gotten him back on the court a week later after being traded.

Davis has way more of a history of being injured, and the Mavericks organization payed the price for it on Davis' first game as a Maverick.

Doncic has way more years ahead of him, with a lot more greatness in front of him. Getting Davis is no doubt a short-term project that's basically championship or bust, almost like what Toronto did with Leonard back in 2019. It's more of a risk to take not experiencing greatness with your franchise player and instead relying on an injury-prone player who's six years older than the superstar the Mavs franchise helped raise.

The Mavs organization will no doubt be paying the price in the long run, and if any evidence is needed, look at where the Mavs are right now.