NBA Trade Deadline Roundup: Mavericks Field Calls on Anthony Davis, Nuggets Stay Quiet, Cavaliers Keep Shopping
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Feb. — With Thursday’s trade deadline approaching, several Western and Eastern Conference contenders are weighing their options.
Mavericks
Dallas continues to take phone calls on forward Anthony Davis, according to The Stein Line’s Marc Stein. Team officials are in no hurry to move the 32-year-old and are prepared to keep discussions alive into the offseason, an outcome Davis reportedly favors.
Davis is recovering from ligament damage in his left hand and has appeared in just 29 games since arriving last February. While the Mavericks remain willing to part with Davis, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell, executives have made it clear that Naji Marshall and Max Christie are off-limits.
Nuggets
The defending champions are expected to have a quiet deadline. Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reports Denver would be “shocked” to trade veterans Jonas Valanciunas or Cameron Johnson, and promising wing Peyton Watson is also considered untouchable despite upcoming contract decisions.
Front-office efforts are focused on housekeeping: trimming payroll to slip below the luxury-tax line and converting two-way forward Spencer Jones to a standard contract. The club would prefer to move Zeke Nnaji, but his guaranteed money complicates negotiations.
Cavaliers
After acquiring Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder and Emanuel Miller in the DeAndre Hunter deal, Cleveland is still active. ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel reports president Koby Altman is shopping guard Lonzo Ball and injured wing Max Strus to erase the team’s remaining $13.9 million second-apron overage.
Ball’s $10 million salary, which includes a matching team option for next season, is viewed as the cleanest path to relief. Strus, rehabbing from foot surgery and owed $16.66 million in 2024-25, could become a prominent offseason trade candidate if no deal materializes this week.
Source: Hoops Wire
