{"id":167557,"date":"2025-11-21T18:59:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=167557"},"modified":"2025-11-21T18:59:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:59:33","slug":"anthony-davis-next-trade-destination-could-shake-up-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/21\/anthony-davis-next-trade-destination-could-shake-up-the-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Davis\u2019 Next Destination Could Shake Up the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After the Dallas Mavericks fired Nico Harrison, many people around the league expect the next step to be an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a> trade. Harrison was the one who brought AD to compete for a title right now, but that vision never came to fruition because of injuries. The Mavericks can and should pivot to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/flaggco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cooper Flagg<\/a> as their next <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/19\/cooper-flagg-stands-out-mavericks-lone-bright-spot\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">franchise cornerstone<\/a>. This year is the last one in which they will have a draft pick, and bottoming out can help them net a rotation player. Right now, it seems a Davis trade is a matter of when, not if.<\/p>\n<h2>Anthony Davis\u2019 Next Destination Could Shake Up The NBA<\/h2>\n<p>The Chicago Bulls are one of the most surprising stories of the early season. For years, fans in Chicago have been dreaming of bringing a superstar back home. And now, it seems like AD might be the logical target. Nobody expected the Bulls to be this good. With the Eastern Conference being open, many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/47039949\/nba-first-month-lessons-intel-thunder-lakers-warriors-knicks-every-team#mem\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">insiders<\/a> are whispering that Chicago could be a possible destination for Davis. If that happens, Davis will be part of a blockbuster trade for the third time in his career.<\/p>\n<h3>Can the Bulls Pull Off A Major Trade?<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_138052\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-138052\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-138052\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Coby White is the Bulls team MVP.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25864723_168404824_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-138052\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) drives to the basket against the Charlotte Hornets during the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Nell Redmond-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Right now, the Bulls seem to be stuck between rebuilding and contending. For the past several years, people around the league jokingly called them the play-in Bulls. The name is nod to their always making it to the play-in but never to the playoffs. The team is rolling right now. With plenty of assets, it might be time to pull off a major trade. They do have the assets and the motivation to trade for a player like Davis.<\/p>\n<p>For the Mavericks, the lure would be getting some <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/21\/anthony-davis-trade-buzz-mavericks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">salary relief<\/a>, and the Bulls have expiring contracts such as those of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vucevni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Vucevic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colliza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Collins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huertke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Huerter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a>. If the Mavs can get White, that would be great, as he can be a long-term solution at the point guard position. The Bulls can potentially offer two draft <a href=\"https:\/\/fanspo.com\/nba\/teams\/chicago-bulls\/5\/draft-picks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">picks<\/a> in the upcoming draft: their own and the Portland Trail Blazers\u2019 pick. That Blazers pick is protected 1\u201314, but Portland is looking solid right now.<\/p>\n<p>Even if they only get the Bulls\u2019 pick, Dallas would have two picks in the 2026 loaded draft, salary relief, and potentially a long-term solution at the point guard position. The potential trade seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n<h3>Can An Anthony Davis Trade Lift The Bulls?<\/h3>\n<p>Right now, the Bulls are 20th in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensive rating<\/a> in the league, allowing 115.7 points per 100 possessions. Davis has never won the Defensive Player of the Year Award, but he has been close a couple of times. Two seasons ago, he finished in the top five in voting and made the NBA All-Defensive First Team. While he hasn\u2019t been the same dominant force on the defensive end in recent seasons due to injuries, Davis is still a better defensive player than Vucevic.<\/p>\n<p>The question for the Bulls\u2019 front office is whether they are willing to invest money in an injury-prone center. Unlike AD, Vucevic has played 70+ games in each of the last five seasons. AD has played 70+ games in only three seasons of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Featured Image: David Banks-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the Dallas Mavericks fired Nico Harrison, many people around the league expect the next step to be an Anthony Davis trade. Harrison was the one who brought AD to compete for a title right now, but that vision never came to fruition because of injuries. The Mavericks can and should pivot to Cooper Flagg [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":167582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,8,62],"tags":[240,474],"class_list":["post-167557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-nikola-vucevic"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167583,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167557\/revisions\/167583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}