Dallas Mavericks fans are sick right now. Not only did their team trade away superstar Luka Doncic, and not only did the front office inexplicably badmouth him on his way out the door, but now the man he was traded for, Anthony Davis, has been injured before Luka even made his Lakers debut. To even casual NBA fans, this injury was totally unsurprising. Davis has a history of missing time, which made the talk of Luka’s conditioning even more inexplicable when he was traded for an injury-prone player who’s six years his elder. Stephen A. Smith empathized with Mavs fans on his show on Monday.
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“It’s exactly what Dallas fans were fearful of. Nobody ever questioned the greatness of Anthony Davis as a player. You question his durability.”
Stephen A. brought up how Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew gave Davis the nickname “Street Clothes” for his inability to stay healthy, though he also pointed out that Davis has done a better job the past two seasons of staying on the court.
On talent alone, Stephen A. is right that the trade that sent Davis to Dallas and Luka to L.A. isn’t so unfair. Luka is an incredible player, but Davis is a former No. 1 pick and a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. He’s not only one of the best defenders in the league, he’s someone who’s averaged over 24 points and 10 rebounds in his career. Mavs fans didn’t have an issue with Davis’ talent. They had an issue with general manager Nico Harrison and team owner Patrick Dumont insinuating that Luka’s conditioning and personality made the trade make sense, while failing to acknowledge that Davis is six years older and has a much more troubling injury history. Nobody enjoys being gaslighted.
Anthony Davis getting injured in his Mavs debut made a bad situation even worse
For a half at least, Davis had Mavs fans believing that maybe this could work out after all. He annihilated the Rockets in the first half of his Dallas debut, putting up 24 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks in just 21 minutes. That all came crashing down when he reached for his midsection while playing defense early in the third quarter.
Davis had suffered an ab strain in the week before he was traded, so it wasn’t necessarily surprising to see him re-aggravate it. What was surprising was that AD, who implied after the game that the injury was a minor one, is now expected to miss about a month to recover. With just 28 games left in the season and the Mavs clinging to the eighth seed but only a game from missing the playoffs entirely, this is awful news for fans who were already feeling bad enough about losing Luka. To make matters worse, Luka made his Lakers debut last night and seemed to be having a great time with his new teammates in an easy victory over the Jazz.
The Lakers and Mavs meet for the first time since the trade on February 25th. Davis won’t be back by then, and if Luka helps the Lakers roll to another win, Mavericks fans will be more disconsolate than they already are.
