Anthony Davis is heading down a disastrous slippery slope Mavericks should fear

Roughly two weeks away from media day, the Dallas Mavericks are entering training camp almost fully healthy, barring Kyrie Irving's torn ACL rehab, as well as Anthony Davis still recovering from a procedure to repair a torn retina. Davis and fellow teammate Klay Thompson both recently attended a Mavericks mini-camp to help their 2025-26 Mavericks squad bond further, but Davis unfortunately wasn't able to partake in any of the on-court activities from this mini-camp due to his recovery from surgery still.

While this procedure was more of a one-off instance, Davis has struggled to ramp up his offseason workouts until later in the summer during other seasons throughout his career, which could be correlated to some of the early-season injuries he's suffered in his career.

Davis obviously can't control him having to recover from surgery, but Mavericks fans should be wary of this situation, as it could have potential negative ripple effects if it's clear Davis isn't 100 percent once game action resumes. Davis has been pretty injury-riddled throughout his career, and while lots of that can be attributed to a high usage rate, his injury history undoubtedly exacerbates the concern Mavericks fans should have over this situation.

Davis' inability to ramp up earlier could prove to be burdening

Davis has cited in the past that taking some proper rest time in the offseason has been beneficial to him, but his early-season injuries would say otherwise in regard to that proposition. As was the case with Irving last season, Mavericks fans know that increased workload doesn't necessarily cause an injury outright, but it undoubtedly raises the risk of injury.

The Mavericks have great positional depth in their frontcourt, which will help to mitigate Davis' workload next season, but he's still expected to be the No. 1 option from the get-go, and there's certainly the potential he suffers another early-season injury if he isn't able to get his body in prime shape before the season starts or isn't even available to play on opening night.

This isn't to say Davis has ever not looked like he's in great shape at the start of the season, but being in great shape compared to NBA-game shape are two entirely different things. It takes elite conditioning to be a superstar in this league, as Mavericks fans know all too well following the organization's controversial decision to trade Luka Doncic, so hopefully this isn't something that proves to be detrimental to Davis and the Mavericks next season.

Overall, this doesn't seem to be a situation that Mavericks fans should lose any sleep over just yet, as Davis isn't recovering from an injury that requires him to rehab a muscle. So long as Davis' eye fully heals ahead of training camp, he could be a full-go once preseason action kicks off, but Mavericks fans should monitor his condition throughout training camp with a keen eye, as it would be a travesty if history repeated itself with Davis in terms of suffering another early-season injury or being sidelined to begin the season.