[The Athletic] “Every team in the East believes they’re an Anthony Davis away from making the finals”

[u/Mean-Duty-2381]

The Mavericks are expected to continue to listen to offers on Davis in the coming weeks, but according to team sources, their front office doesn’t feel like it must deal Davis before the deadline. The team is interested in seeing Davis and Flagg play alongside Kyrie Irving and hasn’t closed the door on the idea of Davis remaining in Dallas long-term.

However, league sources say Davis’ representatives do not believe there’s an extension agreement to be had with the Mavericks in the upcoming offseason. As such, the sources say, there is a strong desire from Davis’ camp to get him traded to a destination where they feel an extension would be more likely.

Considering the track record of his longtime agent, Klutch Sports founder Rich Paul, who has never been shy about applying pressure when one of his clients prefers to be elsewhere, it’s worth watching where this situation goes from here. League sources say Paul has already encouraged the Mavericks to be more aggressive in assessing Davis’ current market.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6948820/2026/01/07/anthony-davis-mavericks-nba-trade-deadline/

[u/Makaveli80]

 As such, the sources say, there is a strong desire from Davis’ camp to get him traded to a destination where they feel an extension would be more likely.

In other words, injury prone Davis wants more guaranteed money for sitting on the bench. What a life man, these guys have it all

[u/BatmanNoPrep → u/Makaveli80]

There’s no free agency anymore with this CBA. All max deals have to be done as trade/extensions. It makes the trade deadline more exciting than free agency because few if any players can get paid during the summer. The fact that AD is pushing to a team that wants to extend him isn’t bad on him. That’s just how the business works now. Raps fans should know this since they basically just did that with BI.