Lakers must avoid misguided Anthony Davis trade at all costs

With the Dallas Mavericks finally admitting how bad things have gotten for their franchise, the beginnings of an overhaul have commenced. It started in the front office and it should stretch to the actual roster before February of 2026.

The Mavericks kicked Nico Harrison to the curb on Tuesday, announcing the team would be parting ways with the architect of the Luka Doncic trade. The question had hovered around the organization amid their embarrassing start to the season, and it finally got its definitive answer.

Who goes next? It is only November, and a seismic trade that involves an Anthony Davis or Kyrie Irving will need to wait a bit longer — probably until December or even January. Even so, that has not stopped the other franchises around the NBA from paying close attention.

The Athletic reported, "The 32-year-old Davis now finds himself at the center of league-wide speculation that he might be the next to go. .... Irving, whose contract runs concurrent with Davis’ (including a player option for $42.4 million in 2027-28), finds himself in a similar situation."

Some have already pondered the thoughts of just how funny it would be for Davis to immediately reroute himself back to the Los Angeles Lakers. It's all fun and games to joke about, but the serious takeaway should be that potential swap would only be inviting disaster.

Lakers must evolve and not tread backwards with Anthony Davis

Davis has only played 14 regular season games with the Mavericks since arriving in Dallas. That alone should serve as a painful reminder of just how hard it can be to navigate having the star big man as one of the pivotal figures of a franchise. The Lakers should already know this pretty well.

When Davis is playing and healthy, no one doubts his contributions. The former NBA champion was crucial in helping LeBron James put another banner up in the rafters for the Lakers.

Speaking of James, what would Los Angeles need to give up to acquire his old friend?

Austin Reaves, salary filler, and any potential draft compensation is a price that should not excite the Lakers one bit. Reaves has been tremendous to start the 2025-26 season, and has given every indication he wants to remain in Los Angeles once free agency hits.

How about just swapping a package built around LeBron to Dallas?

That is something Sam Quinn of CBS Sports thought should be intriguing. Quinn ranked the Lakers as the ninth best landing spot for Davis with that mindset.

The obvious problems there are plentiful. For starters, Quinn even mentioned this himself, James has a no-trade clause that would quickly get exercised without a reroute to another team. More than that, though, it is the commitment that move makes.

Davis is under contract for at least two more seasons before a player option in 2027-28. One would imagine the star big man picks that up and takes his $62.8 million payday.

Adding back Davis would alleviate the decision of what do with James in the offseason, but it also robs Los Angeles of their flexibility in a big way. It pins down Doncic's prime years in the NBA, binding them exclusively to the former Lakers big man.

What about the spacing? Do the Lakers have enough of it if the frontcourt is to feature Davis and Deandre Ayton? It is important to remember that AD wants to play power forward and made that abundantly clear.

Health concerns, financial obligations, you name it. There are several other angles that can be taken to dissect this matter and they all lead to the same conclusion: it is just not worth it.