ESPN Insider Reminds “Anthony Davis is Not 40-Years-Old,” Claims the Mavericks Trade Isn’t a Failure Yet

The Anthony Davis-Luka Doncic trade shook the NBA world, and its reverberations are still being felt weeks later. Nearly everyone has slammed Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison for making the deal and sending a beloved superstar away. That feeling of betrayal and even hatred is only worse now that Davis is set to miss extended time with an adductor strain.

No one can blame Mavericks fans for feeling this way. They were attached to Doncic like few other fanbases are tied to their stars. Some have even suggested that Mavs fans would rather win no titles with Luka than win one without him, an idea that seems crazy until you see just how hurt the entire city seems to be over the move.

What’s done is done, and unlike the Lakers’ other trade for Mark Williams, there’s no taking this one back. Harrison made the Mavs’ bed, and now he, the team, and the fans are going to have to lie in it and make the best of it. When it comes to charting a path forward, at least one NBA insider believes that Dallas can still come out of this looking OK.

Alan Hahn believes that calling the Davis trade a failure already is foolish, as he strenuously pointed out on Get Up.

“You have to see it play out before you start calling something an absolute failure … Anthony Davis is not 40 years old at the end of his career … This is a really good player who probably fits with Kyrie and the way they wanna play a lot better.”

Hahn is right that Davis should still have a lot left in the tank whenever he returns, and the one half he did get to play in a Mavs uniform was a tantalizing look at how good this team could be when he gets healthy.

Is it too soon to call the Anthony Davis trade a failure for the Mavericks?

Davis’ injury can’t be discounted when it comes to examining the success of this trade. Brian Windhorst said after Davis went down that the Mavs “don’t have margin for error now”, and with Dallas currently hanging on to a play-in spot, he’s absolutely right. What’s worse is that the Mavs reportedly traded Luka over concerns about his fitness, but they did it for a player in Davis who is six years older and has a much more extensive injury history in his time in the league.

Is the Mavericks trade for AD already a failure? @alanhahn pic.twitter.com/fWlxEiREG6

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 19, 2025

Hahn may be right that the Mavericks can be a good team whenever Davis gets healthy, whether that be this year or next year. Like the old philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest, though, if the Mavs are good but there are no fans there to see it, was the trade still a success?