Everything magically clicked for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. The Lakers were hungry to win a championship to honor the passing of franchise legend Kobe Bryant. In unprecedented COVD-related circumstances, the Lakers received a massive gift — an injury-free Anthony Davis.
The superstar big man stayed healthy for their postseason run. Los Angeles got their championship. Banking on that kind of durability in 2025-26 is a tough gamble, by contrast. Even those covering the Atlanta Hawks, the team most regularly linked to Davis as the Dallas Mavericks shop him, know it.
Sam Allred of Soaring Down South wrote: "Davis will turn 33 this season and has only played 60 games in a season once this decade. A second blockbuster trade would simply turn Atlanta's Kristaps Porzingis problem into an Anthony Davis problem."
Imaging is scheduled for today to determined the severity of Anthony Davis’ hand injury sustained Thursday night in Utah, league sources say.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 9, 2026
The Mavericks are traveling to Chicago and Davis’ status for his annual homecoming game Saturday is not yet known. https://t.co/mwL3YF4LQh
Allred believed the Hawks would be better off from repeating the Mavericks' Luka Doncic mistake in trading for Davis. Shams Charania reported on Friday the devasting news of the Mavs big man sustaining ligament damage in his left hand. That may halt any trade talk altogether.
Charania reported, "There is a real chance Davis -- one of the NBA's prime trade targets -- will be sidelined through the Feb. 5 NBA deadline. And possibly beyond, depending on the need for surgery."
Any Lakers fan is quite familiar with going through the motions on this one. This has just been the unfortunate reality for Davis in recent years.
Anthony Davis' injury concerns make title contention nearly impossible to navigate
Porzingis has only given the Hawks 17 games this season. Even so, that is actually only three games fewer than Davis has managed to play for the Mavericks.
While no one would dispute the talent jump going from KP to AD, there is still very little to believe the Hawks could seriously win the Eastern Conference with the injury hurdles brought by managing Davis. The roster is good, but not good enough, even after adding the star big man.
Allred thought the same, adding, "Davis simply does not match Atlanta’s personnel or timeline anymore. Had the Hawks held onto their star point guard, Davis would be a perfect fit on this team."
The latter part naturally points at Atlanta giving up Trae Young for pennies on the dollar in their recent trade with the Washington Wizards. The Hawks have missed the window on turning that into a three-team deal with the Mavericks too. That would have at least made the financials make a lot of sense.
Davis has still averaged 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 1.1 steals per game in 2025-26 with Dallas. Is the former NBA champion capable of bringing a boost to the Hawks? Sure. Would it be the type of definitive move that pushed them ahead of the pack in the East? Probably not, especially with the freshly-reported news above from Shams.
The Lakers got the absolute best version of Davis in 2019-20 — healthy, dominant, and a catalyst for a championship. It's hard to imagine all three of those things aligning that seamlessly for the Hawks in 2026.