Mavericks' Anthony Davis trade race suddenly tightens to two suitors

Despite Anthony Davis' recent hand injury, the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks are still in the hunt to trade for him. ESPN's Shams Charania revealed that Atlanta and Toronto were the "foremost teams" interested in acquiring the star big man, and the fact that he is still generating trade buzz is great news for the Mavericks.

Mavericks fans feared that Davis' trade market would nosedive after he injured his left hand against the Utah Jazz a week ago, but that has been far from the case. The Mavericks have actually revived trade talks with some teams after the injury, and Davis could still return this season.

It was announced that he would be out for the next six weeks with this hand injury, and him avoiding surgery was the best possible news for interested teams. He has the chance to return this year in March, ahead of the playoffs, giving him plenty of time to ramp up and get used to playing for his potential new team.

Two teams are still willing to gamble on Anthony Davis

The Hawks and Raptors have both been interested in Davis for some time now, and we could see one of these teams making a move for him before the February 5 trade deadline hits. Atlanta was previously known as the frontrunner, and they still seem like a probable destination due to Luke Kennard and Kristaps Porzingis' expiring contracts that they can throw into the deal.

The Mavericks have pressed hard for the New Orleans Pelicans' 2026 unprotected first-round pick that Atlanta owns, but the Hawks won't budge. They don't believe this asset matches up to Davis' value, and they want to hold onto this piece to build for the future.

On top of this, the Hawks also don't want to part with former No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher. It seemed like the Mavs could at least acquire Risacher due to Atlanta's refusal to trade the Pelicans' pick for Davis, but his hand injury complicates this.

He has only played in 20 of 41 games this year, and his well-chronicled injury history has come back to bite him. Davis has only played in 71 games over the last two seasons after playing 76 games in the 2023-24 season, and teams that want to trade for him know that he isn't going to be available as much as they would like.

At this point, the Mavericks may get stuck with just expiring deals in exchange for Davis. We could see his trade value look similar to that of Trae Young (CJ McCollum's expiring contract, Cory Kispert, and no draft capital), as the Hawks just wanted to get his money off their books and move on, and some team is going to end up with a steal.

The Raptors' financial situation puts them in a good spot to trade for Davis as well, as they have the contracts of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Jakob Poeltl to dangle in front of Dallas along with draft capital. None of these players, though, are on expiring contracts, and a move with Toronto wouldn't create the financial flexibility that the Mavs need to properly kick off the Cooper Flagg era.

The Raptors would need to give up significant draft capital to convince the Mavericks to make a deal with them, especially if Poeltl is part of the trade, and a deal here seems far less likely unless they can get a third team involved.

Anthony Davis is going to be on trade watch until the final moments before the trade deadline hits, and the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks should be under sharp surveillance for the next few weeks. Nothing in the NBA gets done without a deadline, and time will tell if the smoke coming out of Atlanta and Toronto develops into serious talks or even an eventual deal.