Mavericks finally eye the Anthony Davis trade fans are demanding

Trade discourse surrounding Dallas Mavericks superstar Anthony Davis has reached an all-time high after the team's slow start to the season. While the Mavericks are currently on a hot streak, having won their last four of five games against tough opponents, the chatter around Davis' future with the Mavericks remains one of the most talked-about topics in sports.

There's no doubt that Dallas' slow start to the season only kicked off the early talks around trading players and attempting to build around Cooper Flagg with more youth and draft picks, but after recent comments were made on Barstool Sports' "The Ryen Russilo Show," the Mavericks appear to be exploring trading the former champion. It would be a tough pill to swallow for those thinking the Mavericks owe it to their fans and Luka Doncic to remain competitive, but picking a direction in today's NBA is one of the most important decisions a franchise can make.

"They have internally and externally discussed or gauged the market on what an Anthony Davis trade could look like...He’s not a long-term guy in Dallas," Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated said. "They’re going to go into a rebuild at some point. They have looked at the market for Anthony Davis."

Anthony Davis trade talks are starting to get real

Since being swapped for Doncic at last season's trade deadline, Davis' time in Dallas has been spent with confusion and frustration, especially with the number of injuries that have kept him off the floor. To make matters worse for Davis' case for staying in Dallas, the Mavericks' slow start to the season has only fueled motivation from both fans and the front office to get a deal in place for a possible trade of the 13-year veteran.

Not only would the Mavericks benefit in a presumptive trade because they would officially be picking a direction with Flagg as their headlined franchise star, but for Davis, it would give him a fresh start with a team that would want him. It may be too early to say, but after the Doncic trade, there has been a level of fans who have been resentful of Davis in some way, and after his two-point performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder last weekend, Davis' case has only grown worse.

It's tough to say what the market would be for a player of Davis' caliber, considering he is earning around $60 million annually and he is a player who has been riddled with injuries over his career, but with that in mind, a fresh start may not be the worst option for either squad. While it's still early in the season, it is telling that the Mavericks have already had internal discussions about what a Davis trade may mean for the franchise, but there's no doubt that the Mavericks need to pick a direction of competing for the playoffs or building around Flagg's future very soon.

The Mavericks may only be one more rough stretch away from changing the direction of their franchise and finally admitting that trading away Doncic was one of the team's biggest mistakes.