No hope for renewing contract with the Mavericks! Reports reveal Davis urgently wants a trade and is willing to play for the Hawks or Raptors.

On January 7th Beijing time, The Athletic reported that the Mavericks will continue to listen to offers for Davis in the coming weeks, but insiders say the management does not feel compelled to trade Davis before the deadline. The team intends to observe how Davis, Flagg, and Irving perform together and has not completely closed the door on Davis staying long-term in Dallas.

As the trade deadline approaches next month, whether Davis and Irving can once again play side by side has become an urgent question to answer. However, league sources indicate thatDavis’s agent team believes they will not be able to reach a contract extension with the Mavericks in the upcoming offseason. Therefore, Davis’s camp is eager to have him traded to a team more likely to offer a renewal deal.

Considering the consistent style of Davis’s longtime agent Rich Paul—who never hesitates to pressure teams when his clients want to leave—the developments of this situation are worth watching. League insiders state thatRich Paul has already urged the Mavericks to more actively assess Davis’s current market value.

Although this situation is very different from Davis’s 2019 fallout with the New Orleans Pelicans—when he requested a trade and was eventually sent to his preferred Los Angeles Lakers—his team now clearly believes he has no long-term future in Dallas. In their view, the Mavericks are better off accelerating their rebuild around Flagg by trading Davis.

League sources reveal that the Hawks and Raptors are two potential destinations interested in acquiring Davis. Davis himself is reportedly open to both options, but how strong the Hawks’ and Raptors’ willingness to trade actually is remains to be seen. While the Hawks are trying to trade Trae Young, league sources say the Mavericks are unwilling to take on Young’s contract in exchange for Davis. Meanwhile, Hawks management strongly denies reports suggesting they might include their number one draft pick, Layshia, in a deal for Davis.

If Trae Young is traded to another team in the coming weeks and the Hawks’ stance changes as a result, Davis would undoubtedly fill a key interior gap for the team. The experienced center Porzingis can have a huge impact when healthy, but he will become a free agent this summer.

League insiders say the Raptors are looking to strengthen their center position and may enter trade talks with the Mavericks regarding Davis as the February 6 trade deadline approaches. Any deal with the Raptors would require the Mavericks to take on a long-term contract. The Mavericks are likely to demand significant draft picks to agree to such a trade. Additionally, the Raptors are also interested in Kings’ big man Sabonis.

The Warriors have also discussed the possibility of trading for Davis with the Mavericks, according to team sources, and the door to a deal is not fully closed. However, it is well known that the Warriors firmly oppose trading Green (with a $25.8 million salary this season) or Butler (salary of $54.1 million this season), making it difficult for both sides to reach a feasible salary matching trade.

League sources say the Bucks are also among the teams interested in acquiring Davis, though the likelihood of a trade is low. The Bucks have been actively seeking more talented players to pair with their star Giannis, and interest in Davis aligns with this strategy. However, the team’s limited trade assets and lack of sufficiently large contracts to match may reduce the attractiveness of their offers.

Some in the NBA believe the Mavericks will struggle to receive enough valuable assets for Davis before the February 6 deadline, and that trade negotiations may resume next summer. But as the deadline nears, the chaotic situation in the Eastern Conference becomes a variable that must be taken into account.

A senior league official stated: “Every team in the East believes that as long as they get Anthony Davis, they have a chance to reach the Finals.”