Anthony Davis’ old flaw just became a major Mavericks trade advantage

If the Mavericks decide to field calls for Anthony Davis, his improvement in this area should drive his trade value up.

Will Miller

Dallas Mavericks, Anthony Davis / Stacy Revere/GettyImages

Riding a three-game winning streak and Anthony Davis having been re-inserted into the lineup since last Friday, the Dallas Mavericks are looking far different compared to last week. How the next few weeks go for Dallas will likely determine what course of action they take before the trade deadline, but if they are still interested in shopping Anthony Davis, then it will bode well for them that Davis has been shooting great from outside since returning to the court.

It's still an extremely small sample size, as Davis has only played eight games all season, and only three since returning from injury, but Davis has shot 4-7 on 3-pointers since coming back to the lineup, which has him up to 35 percent from distance on the season. Whether or not the Mavericks decide to keep Davis beyond the trade deadline or not, him shooting well from outside is a huge plus for a multitude of reasons.

With Davis playing the five now, defenses have to respect his ability to step outside the arc regardless, as he's more than capable of making open shots. However, if he's shooting at league-average or better from distance, defenses will have to respect him on the perimeter even more, which is great for Dallas, considering their spacing has already gotten better with Davis playing the five.

Anthony Davis' 3-point surge makes him a more attractive trade asset

With the unheralded ascension of two-way contract rookie Ryan Nembhard, maybe the Mavericks can actually right the ship enough by the time Kyrie Irving returns to salvage this season to a certain extent. But if this winning streak is more of fool's gold, then trading Davis will still be a huge option come the deadline in February.

Dallas needs a sustained stretch of great play from Davis to trade him, as they obviously won't get nearly as much value as they gave up for him, but can't afford to settle for a bad trade just because they want to get him off their books. Davis has played well the last few games, and while he'll never be a high-volume 3-point shooter, his shooting from outside trending up could increase his trade value even more if he continues to play well overall.

Davis has never shot above 34 percent from outside for an entire season in his career, so it won't be an easy feat for him to sustain the 35 percent clip he's currently shooting at, especially since he's playing through a slight finger injury on his right hand suffered in Monday's game against the Denver Nuggets.

Davis still shot 2-4 from outside against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, though, so hopefully that bodes well for him still being able to shoot solidly from outside amidst his fingers being wrapped up. It certainly isn't essential that Davis has the best 3-point shooting season of his career for Dallas to trade him, but if this is the course of action they ultimately opt for, this trend should only help drive Davis' value up even more, so long as he can stay on the court.

Will Miller

Will Miller is a senior contributor and is in his second year with The Smoking Cuban. Will has been following the Dallas Mavericks for over a decade and is currently working on getting a Bachelors in Science in Sports Journalism from the University of North Texas, as he is also covering sports for the North Texas TV station. While Will is opening up his coverage to cover other sports for UNT, basketball and the Dallas Mavericks are his true passion and he hopes to continue writing and producing Mavericks related content as his career continues. Will has very solid in-game analysis and knowledge about the intricacies of the game, and has a very broad understanding about the NBA as a whole. Going forward Will is looking to be more expansive in his coverage of the Mavericks beyond writing as well. Outside of writing about the Mavericks, Will enjoys hanging with friends, going to the gym, and watching other sports and live events.