Lakers' Anthony Davis Trade to Luka Doncic's Mavs: How It Can Happen

The Dallas Mavericks are considered a team to "keep an eye on" for Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, per an NBA scout via a media report..

DALLAS - The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled to stay afloat this season. They hold a 27-32 record and rank 13th in the Western Conference standings. They made some major changes ahead of the midseason trade deadline, but could more be on the way in the upcoming offseason?

Among the Lakers' consistent issues over the last few seasons has been the lack of consistent availability of Anthony Davis. He's appeared in 101 regular season games over the last three seasons. He has been unable to provide the co-star impact that LeBron James has needed to contend for a championship.

During a recent appearance on Fox Sports Radio, Colin Cowherd stated that he's heard about frustrations from James about being overplayed by coach Darvin Ham and for not holding Davis accountable. 

"LeBron and his camp have been frustrated by how many minutes he has to play. They cant depend on Anthony Davis. They are also mad that Darvin Ham is not keeping the pressure on Anthony Davis."

On a recent episode of "The Collin Cowherd Podcast," Cowherd explained that pursuing Davis would be about having a defensive anchor to cover up Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic on that end of the floor. 

“They can’t depend on Anthony Davis. They’re a little upset that Darvin Ham is not keeping the pressure on Anthony Davis… I talked to an NBA source who I’ve known for a long time, he said the Dallas Mavericks and Anthony Davis, keep your eye on it.”

There has been some speculation about Davis being the potential mechanism for the Lakers to facilitate a sign-and-trade, but that doesn't align with the general intel already out there. Los Angeles acquired D'Angelo Russell at the NBA trade deadline to re-sign him. 

The Mavs will be able to send out more first-round picks after their 2023 first-round pick conveys to the New York Knicks. Outside of a sign-and-trade involving Irving, the Mavs would need the Lakers to be willing to take on Tim Hardaway Jr. and Davis Bertans or find a third team to take at least one of them. Each player will have two years remaining on their contract beginning next season. 

There would be a need for the Mavs to determine if they want to send out the necessary assets required to acquire Davis, too. For the reasons the Lakers would consider moving on from him, those would be issues that Dallas would need to be comfortable in navigating. 

As far as the Lakers are concerned, they would need to be careful in navigating a Davis trade since they already are limited in their assets. Could they manage to find a replacement co-star for James in a separate trade after moving Davis? That would be a key question that would need to be answered.

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