Mavericks-Wizards Trade Breakdown: Real-World and Fantasy Basketball Impact

A couple NBA trades went down in a short span of time. We just covered the Thunder, 76ers trade, and now will cover the other, which was between the Mavericks and Wizards.

Let's look at the real world and fantasy basketball implications of the deal.

For the latest player updates, be sure to head to FantasySP to utilize the real-time player news engine for all sports. The player news engine is the most robust and fastest player news system in fantasy sports. Signing up for a FantasySP membership can help you track all your fantasy players.

Trade Details and Stats

It was an eight-player deal between Washington and Dallas.

Washington got Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell and Dante Exum in the deal. 

Dallas received Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two future first-round picks and three future second-round picks.

Davis is the big name in the deal. He's currently out with a hand injury, and has only played 20 games this season. Davis averaged 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.1 steals over 31.3 minutes while with Dallas this year.

Middleton is the other recognizable name in the deal. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.3 blocks over 24.3 minutes in his 34 games played this season.

Russell is nearly 30 years old now. He averaged 10.2 points, 4 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.1 blocks over 19 minutes in his 26 contests played this season.

Hardy is 23 years old and is in his fourth NBA season. He averaged 6.9 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.1 blocks over 12.6 minutes in his 34 games with Dallas this year.

Exum is out for the season with a knee injury. He did not appear in a game this season, and only played in 20 in the 2024-25 season.

Johnson is in his second NBA season, and this will already be his third team. He averaged 2.8 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.3 steals over 8.6 minutes in his 25 games played this year.

Branham is 22 years old and is in his fourth NBA season. He averaged 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.1 blocks over his 28 games and 9.8 minutes per contest this season. 

Bagley is 26 years old and has been in the league eight years - he will be joining his fifth team. He averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.5 steals over 19.2 minutes in his 38 games this season.

Outlook for the Wizards

Washington has been surprisingly active with trades this season, adding Trae Young a couple weeks ago and now Davis. Washington appears to be sick of being a bottom dweller and decided to take a couple big swings.

Young is hoping to return to the court after the All-Star break. Maybe Davis would return a bit after that as well. This is more a long-term plan for Washington though, as they are 14th in the Eastern Conference right now.

When healthy, Young would be the starting point guard, and Davis would be at power forward or center. Alexandre Sarr would fill the PF or C spot then, giving Washington a really strong trio.

Throw in Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George at the 2 and 3 spots and Washington could make a little noise at full strength. 

Bub Carrington, Russell and Hardy are some options at point guard, while Tre Johnson holds down the spot for now in Young's absence. Behind George at the 2 spot is Johnson, Jamir Watkins, Hardy and Carrington. 

Watkins, Justin Champagnie and Will Riley are some small forward options after Coulibaly, and more minutes are open now that Middleton and others are out of the picture.

Riley is a starting option at the power forward spot for the time being. Champagnie and Watkins are a couple other options.

Skal Labissiere is an option at PF and C. Tristan Vukcevic and Anthony Gill could also spell Sarr now, and him and Davis down the line.

Washington still needs some more players to be a serious threat in the East, but if Young and Davis can stay healthy and Sarr keeps improving, the Wizards could be a dangerous team in the years to come.

Having Young and Davis out there eventually will be a positive for the fantasy outlooks of several Wizards. Sarr will benefit a bunch, as he won't have to carry the load anymore.

The rest of the roster will be playing for their spots in seasons to come, and there should be some good fantasy assets in that bunch, especially while Young and Davis are out.

Keep watching the team's gamelogs until Young and Davis return to see who the best fantasy assets in Washington are. You'll have to constantly be assessing things as the Wizards get healthier, but with better players on the team now, the fantasy values of several guys could change, so be ready to add/drop players.

Outlook for the Mavericks

The Luka Doncic trade was a disaster for Dallas right away, and it aged like milk. It set the organization back a ton, and only luckily landing Cooper Flagg in the draft was a saving grace from the past year for Dallas.

Flagg is now the clear leader in Dallas - at least until Kyrie Irving is back from his injury. This might be Flagg's team regardless though.

He runs the point guard spot now, but could slide to the 2 or 3 when Irving is back. For now, Ryan Nembhard, Brandon Williams and Johnson are some additional point guard options. Flagg is a stud though, and will cover most of the minutes, leaving the others as deep-league fantasy options most often.

Max Christie and Naji Marshall are the 2 and 3 starters for the time being. Williams, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Middleton are other options.

Washington is the starter most likely at power forward, but maybe Middleton is an option too. Caleb Martin, Thompson or Marshall are some other options.

Daniel Gafford is the likely center, with Bagley another option there. Dwight Powell and Dereck Lively II (in future seasons) are other options.

There's some decent players on the roster still, but Dallas likely won't be super competitive until Irving is back and full go again. If Dallas hangs around, Irving could help the team push for a play-in playoff spot this year.

Dallas is more looking toward the future, with Flagg as the centerpiece of things. The picks acquired in this trade should help the team add more rotation pieces, but the Mavericks are definitely playing catch up after the Doncic trade.

As for what the trade does, it helps the Mavs move on from the oft-injured Davis and acquire future talent. Some of the rotation is set in stone, but there's a lot up in the air.

That means that fantasy owners need to be watching the team's gamelogs over the next several games to see who is worth adding or dropping. The same thing will need to be done when/if Irving returns this season, but we don't have a timetable on that yet, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

The players acquired from Washington should be in line for decent roles, so depending on how big of roles they play will determine if they are worthwhile fantasy waiver wire pickups.