The Hawks and the Raptors are the “foremost teams” in on Anthony Davis as trade conversations have started to pick up for the injured Mavericks star, ESPN insider Shams Charania said on Wednesday on “NBA Countdown.”
“I’m told the Mavericks are having renewed trade talks around Davis with multiple interested teams,” Charania reported. “Two of the foremost teams there are Atlanta and Toronto, but one thing that has been made clear in the last few days from people that I’ve talked to is the cost is most certainly going to be lower for the Mavericks than it was even a month ago, when the Mavericks were hedging that Davis would rack up games and improve his value and it could up and up.”
Davis, 32, is dealing with ligament damage in his left hand, but he got some good news on Tuesday that he wouldn’t have to undergo any surgery to repair the issue.
Nevertheless, the recent string of injuries has made a trade to their liking tougher for the Mavericks.
“What has happened now is the groin injury in late December and now this much more serious hand injury, so the Mavericks have to make a decision,” Charania added.
“Are we content with potentially expiring contracts, essentially cleaning out our salary books, getting rid of Anthony Davis’ contract, maybe getting a draft pick and then fully rebuilding around Cooper Flagg with clean salary books.”
The Hawks already have made one major in-season trade in recent days, sending Trae Young to the Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert last week.
Charania said the other option for Dallas would be to give it another go with Kyrie Irving, Davis and company.
Davis is expected to be out six weeks after he suffered an injury late in the Mavericks’ 116-114 loss to the Jazz last Thursday.
He has appeared in just 29 regular season games since he was traded to the Mavs in a blockbuster deal that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers last February.
He has averaged 20.4 points per game over 20 contests this season.
