Anthony Davis tallied 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks in just 31 minutes during his debut game with the Dallas Mavericks. Then he went down with a possible season-ending injury.
For ESPN insider Tim Bontemps, those 31 minutes should be the only ones he ever plays in a Mavericks uniform. In the wake of Kyrie Irving’s season-ending ACL tear, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Davis and the Mavericks could discuss shutting him down for the season.
With the Mavericks currently 10th in the Western Conference, the expectation is that the team will give Davis and other injured players like Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford time to recover instead of rushing them back for a postseason run.
“I don’t think Anthony Davis should ever play for the Mavericks again. He shouldn’t play the rest of the season, and they should trade him this summer,” Bontempts said in the latest edition of “The Hoops Collective Podcast” with Brian WIndhorst and Tim MacMahon. “Nico Harrison talked about them having a three or four year window with this group, that included this season.”
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Bontemps added, “Kyrie Irving is going to be a 33-year-old guard who just had a catastrophic knee injury. Who has a player option for next season. … Anthony Davis will have one year guaranteed left on his deal. He’s going to be approaching his 33rd birthday.”
Tim Bontemps on Mavericks acquiring Anthony Davis: “All they’ve done is lose”
When Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison traded Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis in a deal that shocked the basketball world, he emphasized how he believed the move put the team in a “win-now” position, although fans were not at all happy about him jeopardizing the team’s long-term future.
With the tandem of Davis and Irving supported by key roleplayers like Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, and Dereck Lively II, Harrison believed that the Mavericks would be able to contend for the next two to three years.
However, as Tim Bontemps pointed out, all Dallas has done since the blockbuster trade is lose. With Gafford, Lively, Davis, and now Irving injured, Harrison’s vision for the team has further blurred.
“There’s not a realistic path to contention with this group,” Bontemps said. “The only argument for the Luka trade was: we can win right now, and all they’ve done is lose since then, and have these guys get hurt. … It’s hard to imagine a worse month for a team, especially when you’re talking about self-inflicted wounds for most of it.”
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
