The Washington Wizards made a big-swing trade at the deadline, landing Anthony Davis in a deal with the Dallas Mavericks. However, Davis is already slated to sit out the remainder of the 2025-26 season, and it seems like the Wizards are doomed to make a realization the Los Angeles Lakers know all too well: Davis’ injury issues never seem to go away.
When Davis is on the court, he’s one of the best big men in NBA history. A dominant two-way force. A true franchise-changing talent. The problem is, as the Lakers learned throughout his tenure there, he can never seem to consistently stay on the floor.
That’s already becoming a reality for the Wizards, and it may only end up getting worse.
Wizards doomed to learn Anthony Davis injury lesson Lakers know too well
When the Wizards made the deal for Davis, they had to have an understanding of what they were getting themselves into. Everyone around the NBA knows about Davis’ injury issues at this point.
There’s a good chance that Washington even knew the plan to sit him out the rest of the year before they made the trade. They want to get a good draft pick this year, and Trae Young is likely to sit out the rest of the season, too. Why risk their top pick by playing Davis and Young?
But still, just because the Wizards know about the injury concerns doesn’t mean they aren’t inevitable. At this point, based on everything we’ve seen throughout Davis’ career, they are.
Washington chose to make a gamble. They decided to take a risk and trade for Davis. And with Young already in place, why not? They could be a fun team in the East for the next few years.
The combination of Young and Davis is already. Plus, with Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, and potentially one of Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, or AJ Dybantsa, they’ll be a quality team.
However, as the Lakers know, it’s one thing to understand the risks of Davis, but it’s another to actually live through them and deal with them on a game-to-game basis.
The Wizards are going to have to find out the hard way what it’s like to have Davis as one of their top stars, and their infrastructure may not be good enough to handle it.
If and when Davis inevitably misses time, it will be up to Young and a bunch of young guys to play winning basketball. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to do that consistently.
Trading for Davis was a huge risk, and the Wizards may end up learning the same painful lessons that the Lakers did.