Winners and Losers from the Mavericks’ Trade Deadline

WINNER: Flexibility

By trading away Davis, Russell, and Hardy, the Mavericks cleared nearly $70 million off their books for next season, as AJ Johnson is the only player that they're bringing in who is under contract for next season, and he's still on his rookie contract.

They also added two trade exceptions that they can use to take someone else's bad contract, which can help them get more draft capital, and they opened the non-taxpayer mid-level exception for the offseason. Considering they were staring down the barrel of being a second apron team next year, that's a massive win.

LOSER: Ryan Nembhard

Ryan Nembhard is reaching the limit for games he can play on his two-way contract, and the Mavericks added two guys who can play point guard in Tyus Jones and AJ Johnson. Dallas was expected to clear a roster spot to try to sign Nembhard to a standard NBA contract, but unless someone like Khris Middleton is bought out in the next few weeks, it's unlikely that spot will open up.

Nembhard will probably be a priority for the Mavericks in the offseason, no matter what. But finding a spot for him this season has become tricky.

WINNER: Mavericks Scouts

The Anthony Davis trade added two picks in the loaded 2026 Draft, while also signaling that they may not have an interest in winning games this year. They're now essentially bound to a lottery pick, the 29th or 30th pick from the OKC Thunder, and a second-round pick from the Phoenix Suns, which can be used to add more young talent around Cooper Flagg.

LOSER: Moussa Cisse

A lot of what applies to Ryan Nembhard applies to Moussa Cisse as well. He has impressed in his minutes on his two-way contract. If a roster spot were to have opened, it likely would've gone to Nembhard, but Cisse had an argument, too.

WINNER: Daniel Gafford

Arguably, no one was in more trade rumors during the season than Daniel Gafford, but he stuck around with the Mavs past the trade deadline, as the Davis trade opened up all the financial flexibility the Mavericks were looking for and more.

It still wouldn't be surprising to see the Mavericks trade him this offseason and convert Cisse to a standard contract, as Gafford will still have demand, but they no longer need to, and that's a win for Gafford.

LOSER: Nico Harrison

Nico Harrison was a loser from the time he made the Luka Doncic trade. He said time would tell if he was right, and it took just about a year for him to see just how wrong he was, as the apple of his eye, Anthony Davis, was essentially salary-dumped to the Washington Wizards. The Mavericks should hire him just to fire him again. We've already discussed the timeline of just how quickly this all fell apart for Nico Harrison, and that was incredibly quick.

WINNER AND LOSER: Anthony Davis

It's hard not to feel a little bit for Anthony Davis. He didn't ask for any of this. Injuries have always plagued his career, and it reared its ugly head in Dallas. He was mostly as professional as he could be after being traded for a beloved icon of a city. That's not a situation anyone wants to be in, and he's finally free from that.

However, he got traded to the Washington Wizards. They haven't finished above .500 since the 2017-18 season. Maybe the Wizards take a big jump next year with Trae Young and Anthony Davis, but Davis' injury history doesn't exactly inspire confidence.