Mavericks owner's rumored Anthony Davis trade plan is an accident waiting to happen

Dallas Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont wants to see Anthony Davis play with Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg before making another massive trade, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, and this plan (subscription required) could quickly turn into a disaster.

Davis has been in countless trade rumors over the last month and a half since Nico Harrison was fired, but it doesn't sound like Dumont is fully ready to move on from him. The fact that he is being extremely cautious before trading Davis (and about other things) is a good sign, as he clearly realizes the mistake he made by trading Luka Doncic, but betting on the potential of a Flagg-Irving-Davis trio won't get him anywhere.

The Mavericks are already 9.5 games back from the No. 6 seed and avoiding the Play-In Tournament, and it's going to be an extremely steep uphill battle for them to make the NBA Playoffs, even once Irving returns to the lineup. They are the No. 12 team in the West through 34 games, and their true identity has been obvious all season.

Mavericks don't even need to try the Flagg-Davis-Irving trio

Injuries have been their downfall, as Dereck Lively II and Dante Exum are both out for the year, and Davis' health hasn't been kind to him either. He has only played in 16 games due to multiple injuries, such as a calf strain and groin injury, and despite this, teams are still showing interest in taking him off Dumont's hands.

The Atlanta Hawks are the frontrunners right now, but Dumont holding onto Davis for this season could go dark quickly if he gets injured again, and they want to trade him in the offseason. He still seems to have decent trade value despite the constant injuries that he's dealt with over the last 10 months, but him suffering another injury could turn off teams more than they already are.

Seeing Davis play with Irving at the end of this season isn't worth the risk of Davis getting hurt, regardless of how entertaining it would be.

Irving is set to return to the floor at some point in 2026 after tearing his ACL in March, but Dumont waiting around to see Davis play with him and Flagg could turn into a nightmare if things don't go according to plan.

While Davis, Irving, and Flagg could end up stacking up some wins and potentially securing a last-second spot in the play-in, it likely wouldn't be worth it. The Mavericks' flaws are too devastating to ignore, and they don't have the firepower to compete with other top teams in the Western Conference.

Dallas entered the 2025-26 season with the expectation that their lack of shot creation and shooting would be overcome by their defense, but that hasn't been the case. The Mavericks are the No. 28 team in the NBA in 3-point percentage (33.7 percent) and 3-pointers made per game (10.9), and their backcourt hasn't been good enough to fully maximize the talents of their shooters.

The Mavericks' ceiling is already set in stone, and this team doesn't look like it will be making a deep playoff run this season.

On top of that, holding onto Davis would worsen the Mavericks' lottery odds. Dallas is clearly a much better team when Davis is on the floor, as they are 8-8 with him on the floor and 4-14 without him, and trading him would allow the Mavericks to enter a full rebuild around Flagg.

After trading Davis, Dallas could fully focus on the future in an effort to improve their odds at landing a favorable lottery pick. Their first-round pick in 2026 is the only one that they fully control until 2031, and they need to capitalize on this golden opportunity to pursue a co-star for Flagg while they can.

The team's upcoming stretch could determine their fate, as they have several games against lottery-bound teams coming up, and losing these games could force Dumont and company to accept that this season is a lost cause.

Anthony Davis remains a top-15 player in the NBA when fully healthy, and seeing him play with Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg would at least be exciting, but Patrick Dumont has to understand that the risk far outweighs the reward. Dallas isn't in a position to compete for a title this season, and their entire focus should be putting Flagg in a position to win a title as the team's future superstar.