Mavericks receive the Anthony Davis update fans feared all along

The Anthony Davis trade saga has been a rollercoaster. Now, as Davis could miss the rest of the regular season with ligament damage in his hand, it feels like the coaster has gotten stuck in the middle of a loop and we're all hanging upside down as the blood rushes to our heads. The latest development comes from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who provided the news that Mavs fans expected, but still didn't want to hear:

"Following Davis’ latest hand injury... NBA executives who spoke with HoopsHype predict he’ll remain in Dallas past the trade deadline due to his decreased trade value, unless the Mavericks essentially want to salary dump him." 

Well, that stinks! I don't know how much value the Mavs would have gotten for Davis before the injury, but some young players and draft capital seemed like a reasonable expectation. Now, with Davis sidelined, his trade value is essentially tanked, so the Mavs are likely stuck in purgatory; Davis isn't helping the team, and he's also not earning the Mavs anything in a trade.

I would be stunned if Davis gets salary-dumped. This whole situation has been frustrating, but getting rid of Davis purely for some financial relief doesn't feel productive for the long-term outlook of this team because, well, it wouldn't get the team any promising players or draft capital.

Will the Mavericks be able to trade Anthony Davis next year?

Or perhaps more importantly, will they want to? Davis has battled injuries throughout his career, and his second serious injury in as many seasons with the Mavericks (plus that he'll be 33 years old at the start of next season) might take a trade for any real value off the table.

And maybe that's fine. Kyrie Irving will be back in the picture, and there are worse things than having your 20 year-old franchise superstar surrounded by a star point guard and a top-level center, even if that center is unreliable due to injuries.

In the meantime, though, this doesn't feel great. The Mavs are just two games out of the final play-in spot, and any postseason berth would feel like a twisted victory at this point after everything that's occurred in the past year, but going through this deadline without improving the future outlook in any considerable way is a tough pill to swallow.

The Mavericks' sole prerogative in the coming years is to put Cooper Flagg in the best position possible to succeed. Trading Anthony Davis for scraps right now probably won't achieve that. Thus, Mavs fans should probably be ready to see Anthony Davis start the season with the Mavs in 2026-27.