Mavericks have new reason to regret Anthony Davis trade after LeBron James picks 76ers

LeBron James will sign a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to close out his NBA career after eight seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. If the Dallas Mavericks hadn't traded Anthony Davis last season, they would've likely been among the frontrunners to sign him. The team now has a new reason to regret moving on from Davis less than six months after the trade with the Washington Wizards went down.

Mavericks would've had a strong pitch to pursue LeBron James

James wanted to team up with Davis or Kyrie Irving at his next destination, as there were rumors that he hoped his next team would trade for one of them. If the Mavs never traded Davis, they would've had two of the best teammates he had ever played with in one place, and it would've been the best of both worlds for James. He won an NBA championship with Irving on the Cleveland Cavaliers and Davis in Los Angeles, and he would've had a shot to win one more title with both players in Dallas.

Money also wouldn't have been an issue for the Mavericks, as James was clearly willing to sign a team-friendly deal. Dallas could've had a starting lineup of Irving, Cooper Flagg, James, Davis, and Dereck Lively II if they had signed LeBron, with a bench unit that included Daniel Gafford, Max Christie, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, and their first-round pick from the 2026 NBA Draft.

The Mavericks would've remained in a win-now phase rather than building for the future, but this wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world either. Flagg would've had the chance to learn from the greatest players of all time, and the Mavs would've been one of the top teams in the Western Conference when fully healthy.

Winning is extremely fragile in today's NBA, and Dallas would've certainly been a contender with James joining the squad. This seemed like an impossible feat to achieve so quickly given how the first full season without Doncic went in Dallas, but James would've turned this goal into something realistic.

James' Sixers decision had nothing to do with money

In a thread of posts on his personal X account, James made it clear that his choice to join the Sixers had nothing to do with money. He wants another chance to win a championship after falling short with the Lakers over the last six seasons, and he was open to doing that with any team after announcing that he wouldn't be returning to Los Angeles.

Imagine if he signed with the Mavericks.

They would've given him the chance to compete for a title and more.

The Davis trade has its benefits but it cost them a shot at LeBron

Dallas' roster is obviously full, as 16 players are signed to standard contracts, but things would've been completely different if the Mavericks didn't send Davis to the Wizards at the trade deadline last season. The Mavs settled for a trade package that included Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Marvin Bagley III, Tyus Jones, three second-round picks, and two first-round picks (one of which is heavily protected).

This trade obviously doesn't look the best when taking into account that Dallas traded Luka Doncic to acquire Davis, and all of the players the Mavericks acquired from this deal are off the team, but it also gave them the financial flexibility to pull off some of the big moves they made this summer. The Davis trade helped open the mid-level exception, gave them multiple traded player exceptions, and eliminated the dark cloud that was hanging over the franchise since the Doncic trade went down.

This was nothing Davis could help, as he didn't choose to get traded to the Mavericks, but it seemed like most fans in Dallas were never going to fully embrace him. He was always going to be known as the player who Nico Harrison traded Luka for, and injuries turned his time with the team into a disaster.

The optics of Davis remaining on the Mavericks through the 2025-26 season and into the offseason would've been quite different if he helped lure LeBron to Dallas, though. The Mavs had the perfect pitch to sign LeBron, with the chance for him to team up with Irving and Davis while mentoring Flagg.

Davis would've at least given Dallas a shot to sign James

This wouldn't have guaranteed that Dallas landed him, though, as no one knows what exactly he would've done, but it definitely would've given them a shot. The benefit of the Mavericks trading Davis to the Wizards can't be undermined, and it looks like the right decision in the long run as they build around Flagg.

Regardless, it's impossible not to think about what things would've been like this summer if Dallas could utilize Davis and Irving together as a pitch to sign James during the twilight of his career.

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