Mavericks' Anthony Davis trade vision crumbles with devastating injury update

Anthony Davis injured his left hand against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, and his inability to stay healthy is tanking his trade value. All eyes are on Davis, as he is easily the most dynamic player on the trade market this season, but he isn't giving rival executives a good show.

Teams are still interested in the star big man, including the Atlanta Hawks, but his lengthy injury history just keeps getting longer at the worst time. He could miss multiple months due to the ligament damage in his left hand, which could require surgery, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, and Dallas is in an awful spot.

His excellent performances ultimately get overshadowed by injuries, and this has proven to be true over the last few weeks. Davis returned from a calf contusion on November 28, but it only took him 11 games (with some missed games in between) to suffer another injury. He injured his groin on Christmas Day, and this caused him to miss the following two games before returning on January 1.

Anthony Davis isn't doing himself any favors

Despite this groin injury, his rumored trade interest actually took an uptick. The Hawks' interest intensified, and the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks joined the race as well.

Things seemed to be lining up for Davis at the perfect time, as he had the chance to prove that he could stay healthy for the final few weeks until the trade deadline. The Mavericks need as much value as possible in any trade that sends Davis elsewhere to build around Cooper Flagg, and with Davis being one of the best bigs in the league when healthy, it seemed like they could get some good value for him if he could stay healthy.

Unfortunately for him, that good health didn't last long.

He has only played in 20 of the possible 38 games for Dallas this year, and the optimism that he would stay healthy this season has quickly faded.

All of this comes after he only played in nine of the possible 30 games for Dallas last season, and things couldn't have gone any worse since the trade. Mavericks fans have accepted that he won't be able to remain on the court moving forward, and many fans want him to be traded over the next few weeks.

Rich Paul seems to want this as well, but the Mavericks' plan to trade him for expiring contracts and young players could be crumbling in real time. Teams won't want to give up any value to trade for Davis, especially since he is due a massive extension this offseason, and each injury that he has likely makes teams even more wary of bringing him on.

He may even be out for multiple months if this hand injury requires surgery, which would sideline him beyond the trade deadline. Davis may have already played his final game in Dallas without even knowing it, and this was the worst news the Mavericks could've gotten.

The entire NBA already knew that Davis was injury-prone to begin with, but a healthy stretch would've at least helped raise his trade value a little bit. Teams in the Eastern Conference believe that Davis could be the missing link to their title quest, and him being dominant for the final month heading into the trade deadline would've been ideal for Dallas.

But now it seems impossible if he is sidelined for extended time.

It would've given them more leverage than before, and with Davis' camp looking to push for him to land somewhere that will give him an extension, it was already going to be hard for the Mavericks to gain ground anyways. It still seems likely that the Mavericks could find a trade suitor for Davis ahead of the February 5 trade deadline, but this hand injury just made that goal harder.