Mavericks saved themselves from an overrated disaster in the Anthony Davis trade

Even though getting Anthony Davis' contract off their books will always be the Dallas Mavericks' biggest story from the Davis trade with the Washington Wizards, getting rid of D'Angelo Russell in the middle of his first year on a two-year deal was also extremely important. Dallas signed Russell to be their stopgap point guard until Kyrie Irving returns from his ACL tear last summer, but things did not go according to plan.

Even though he averaged 10.2 points and 4.0 assists per game through 26 games as a Maverick, these numbers don't encapsulate how his time with the team went.

Jason Kidd didn't trust him from the jump, and while he had some big games at the beginning of his Mavs career, Kidd slowly phased him out of the rotation until he wasn't playing at all by the end of it. Russell consistently being a DNP-CD was a move that confused many fans, as Dallas' backcourt depth has been their biggest hole, but Kidd couldn't get behind playing him big minutes.

And the reasons for this were obvious. Russell's play on both ends of the floor declined even more from last season, and he has quietly become one of the most overrated players in the NBA.

D'Angelo Russell named one of the NBA's most overrated players

Back in the day, when fans would hear the name D'Angelo Russell, they'd think of a dynamic combo guard who's at his best when the game is on the line. Russell trademarked the "ice in my veins" celebration after making some big-time shots in the clutch for the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, but now he is just a shell of that once-dominant player.

And Bleacher Report would agree.

Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz ranked the 10 most overrated players in the NBA recently, and ranked Russell at No. 10. Swartz placed Russell here due to how poorly his Mavericks tenure went, and Dallas is lucky that they got out of the D'Angelo Russell business when they did.

One of the most underrated parts of the Anthony Davis trade is that they got out of Russell's contract, and even though it was only a two-year deal, it didn't take long for this signing to look like a mistake. The Mavericks signed Russell to a two-year, $11.7 million deal with a player option after this season, and this may be the biggest contract that he gets for the rest of his NBA career.

Paying someone who isn't even in the rotation over $5 million annually is not a situation that you want to be in, but he isn't the Mavericks' problem anymore. Dallas created serious future financial flexibility by dumping Russell's contract, and now the Wizards are stuck with him for the time being.

Russell hasn't even reported to Washington yet after being traded earlier this month, and him likely getting bought out by the Wizards exposes how much his career has crashed and burned.

His time in Dallas will be remembered for him getting benched for Ryan Nembhard and Brandon Williams rather than him stepping up when they needed him most, and this isn't what anyone expected after the team signed him on the opening night of free agency.

Mavericks fans had every right to be excited about D'Angelo Russell when the team signed him last summer, but looking back on it months later, this is definitely a decision that the front office wishes they could have back. His defensive struggles, inefficiency, and low impact on winning unfortunately plagued his Mavericks career, and unless something drastically changes at his next stop, he may never be a routine NBA starter again.