Report: Anthony Davis’ future salary appears to be limiting his trade interest

Amid a nightmarish start to the 2025-26 season for the Dallas Mavericks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported recently that they will explore trading star big man Anthony Davis. Davis, the best player the Mavericks got in the trade that sent star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, has been held back by injuries since getting moved to Dallas.

After he played just nine games for the Mavericks last season following the trade, a lingering calf injury has kept him on the shelf for all but five of their 18 games this season. Davis seems like a prime candidate to be moved prior to the league’s trade deadline in February, but the problem for the Mavericks is that teams around the NBA appear to have some concerns.

“You talk to people in the league, there’s not a lot of teams that are lining up to take on a 35-year-old Anthony Davis making $63 million,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps said. “And you have to assume he’s gonna opt into that deal. So, a lot of this is gonna be, can Dallas find someone willing to take on the money? If the answer is yes, then you go to, okay, if they’re taking on the money, what are they sending out?”

Davis is currently 32 (he’ll turn 33 this season) and making about $54 million in the 2025-26 campaign, but he’ll eventually be due nearly $63 million in the 2027-28 season if he exercises his player option as Bontemps indicated.

It’s true that Davis’ age, coupled with his expensive contract and injury history, maybe won’t make it easy for the Mavericks to find a suitor, but that doesn’t mean taking a flier on the big man wouldn’t be worth the risk for the right team.

The Boston Celtics stick out as a squad that could majorly benefit both in the here and now and in the future by acquiring Davis, assuming he can stay relatively healthy. Boston is really lacking in frontcourt depth after going through some offseason roster changes.

Trading for Davis might just be the type of move that the Celtics need to make to instantly vault back into contender status following star forward Jayson Tatum’s eventual return to the lineup. A trio featuring fellow star Jaylen Brown along with Davis and Tatum would stack up with really any threesome in the NBA in terms of pure talent.

There are other teams around the league that could really use a big man of Davis’ talent level, but the Celtics might be the ideal landing spot for him, and maybe he will end up wearing green in the future after being linked to the team in years past.