Anthony Davis obliterates wild Mavericks conspiracy theory before it takes off

There's no doubt that the Dallas Mavericks have had arguably one of the weirdest seasons of any team in NBA history.

After the most controversial trade in NBA history with the Mavs trading away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, things started going downhill for the Mavs with multiple injuries occurring left and right, including with Davis in his first three quarters as a Maverick. The last straw came when Kyrie Irving went down with a torn ACL, ending his season. There's a strong possibility he'll have to sit for the beginning of next season too as the Mavs likely won't get him back until some point in 2026.

With all of that said, the Mavs have clearly been teetering on the brink of missing the Play-In Tournament, but after one rumored theory regarding Davis' status for the remainder of the season, it appears Davis and the Mavs aren't throwing in the towel quite yet.

Tanking was never an option for Anthony Davis

Davis sitting down for the rest of the season would've marked a de facto decision for the Mavs to look forward to the 2025 NBA Draft and hope for a decent draft pick. Members of the Mavs organization were unsure if bringing Davis back this season was worth it, and there were rumblings that they could shut him down. Instead, it appears official that the Mavs have chosen to go in the complete opposite direction and push for better playoff seeding.

Max Christie was the first to shut down any talk about tanking, and that was consistent with what Davis talked about following the win against Brooklyn.

"There was no doubt in my mind I was going to come back," Davis said. "Seeing these guys playing with seven guys. Guys playing 38, 40 minutes. We just don't have enough bodies. Kessler Edwards is playing the five. Added a little bit more motivation on me."

Having only eight guys in the lineup at one point really motivated Davis to get back on the court and help his guys out, and it also shows how he's up for the challenge for Dallas to make some noise to make the play-in.

Even if the odds are slightly against them to begin with, getting Davis back is a step in the right direction. With Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford set to return at some point, this is going to be a challenging gauntlet ahead for the Mavs, but having their three-headed monster is better than having no monster at all.

Even with the Mavs going through way too many hardships this season, Davis has already bought in with the Mavs organization to at least fight more this season. It'll be worth it in the long run to have Davis and Irving leading the charge with possibly some more ammo in the 2025-26 season.