Jaren Jackson Jr. trade just revived Mavericks' Anthony Davis blockbuster dream

A little under two days away from the NBA trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks don't appear to be in a position to trade Anthony Davis, but major deals are already happening around the league. The Memphis Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. and a slew of other players to the Utah Jazz in exchange for young players, a salary filler in Kyle Andersen, and three future first-round picks.

While Mavericks fans shouldn't expect as prominent a return for Anthony Davis, seeing an elite rim protector like Jackson Jr. draw this much value in a trade is intriguing, and it could give fans hope that Dallas could get something in that ballpark for Davis. However, in Dallas' instance, fans shouldn't expect three first-round picks for Davis, even if he's traded in the summer.

Davis is nearly 33 years old, while Jackson Jr. just turned 26 years old at the start of the season, so there's a stark contrast between the two in terms of how much longer they'll be in the NBA.

Jackson Jr. trade gives Mavs hope they can secure a solid return for Davis

Many teams in the league could use a defensive anchor at the five, so perhaps the Mavericks could've got something like one first-round pick, a young player or two, as well as a salary filler/expiring contract for Davis until he suffered a left finger sprain against Utah a few weeks ago.

Jackson Jr.'s trade market should be encouraging for Mavericks fans in regard to the trade market of another defensive anchor like Davis, especially since Davis might still be a more elite defender than Jackson Jr. if fully healthy, as Jackson Jr. has thrived more as a help-side rim protector in his career. However, Jackson Jr. is a better floor spacer compared to Davis, so Mavericks fans can't look at this as a one-of-one comparison necessarily.

If anything, this gives the Mavericks hope they can still secure a decent return package for Davis in the summer, especially if he puts up some solid games down the stretch of the season, or simply sits out the rest of the year and is presumably fully healthy by the summer. While it appeared Davis' trade market was fully cooked a few weeks ago following his finger injury, this deadline has already shown that many teams still need centers around the league, and will pay a decent amount to get one.

Of course, Davis' reluctance to play power forward coupled with the fact he and his agency desires a contract extension from any team that trades for him could obviously complicate this process, but it's very encouraging that his trade market may not be completely destroyed, even if it's clear him and Jackson Jr. are in two entirely different situations despite being similar archetypes of players.