Mavericks finally grant Anthony Davis his wish the Lakers refused to fulfill

The most shocking trade in NBA history went down on Saturday night when the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, Markieff Morris, and Maxi Kleber to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick.

The Mavericks changed the trajectory of the franchise from being a team that would have the chance to compete for championships for years to come to a team that is in major win-now mode with Kyrie Irving and Davis both being in their thirties and everything surrounding this trade is confusing.

While Dallas had been shopping Kleber for months, trading Doncic was a move that no one could have ever expected. He looked like someone who could go down as one of the greatest players of all time, and the Mavericks prematurely moved on from him due to concerns about his conditioning and giving him a supermax extension.

While losing Doncic is going to sting for years moving forward, Dallas did land a top-10 player in the league in Davis, and he is one of the most dominant bigs in the NBA when fully healthy. Davis averaged 25.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 29.8 percent from downtown while playing for the Lakers this season, and he will immediately form one of the greatest duos in the NBA alongside Kyrie Irving.

Anthony Davis will finally get to play power forward again

While Mavericks fans will be heartbroken for some time about this, Davis in particular is someone who should be thrilled about this move, as Dallas can give him one thing that he has wanted for some time, and that the Lakers couldn't give him.

Davis thinks he is much more effective at the four rather than at center, and since the Mavs already have Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II holding down the center spot, Davis will get to play his more natural position, power forward.

This isn't to say that Davis will never play the five, as he will likely end up being Dallas' closing center, but wanting to play power forward is something that he has made clear to the Lakers for some time now. He wanted Los Angeles to trade for a center so he could move to the four, and rather than going out and acquiring a big man, the Lakers sent him to Dallas to play with Lively II and Gafford.

The Lakers won a ring with Davis playing power forward, and now he will have the chance to do the same in Dallas. He won't have the same wear and tear on his body from playing center, and he will have more freedom to be himself offensively. Davis won't always have to post up, and him returning to his natural position will help him stay healthier and be more productive offensively. This is exactly what he needed at this stage of his career, and being able to mentor Lively II and Gafford is an underrated part about the move.

The Mavericks have been in trade murmurs for Davis for years now, and Nico Harrison got his guy. Harrison is heavily banking on Dallas to win right now, and we should have a better idea of this team's potential once Davis makes his debut.

Time will tell if Davis playing power forward can lead the Mavericks back to the NBA Finals, but even that may not make trading Doncic worth it.