Anthony Davis is likely done for the season, a bleak finish that would leave him with just 20 games played after ligament damage in his left hand on January 8. He has not returned to the court for the Washington Wizards, and with only a few games left, a comeback now looks unlikely.
The number tells the story. Twenty games would be the fewest Davis has played in a single season, and Washington has not won any games with him on the court yet.
That puts a sharp edge on the trade backdrop that has followed him. Dallas has come away with real production from the deal, with Marvin Bagley III scoring 26 points and grabbing nine rebounds against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 27, going 11-for-14 from the field, and Khris Middleton delivering a season-high 35 points off the bench against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 12 in a Mavericks win.
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The contrast is hard to miss: Davis has been sidelined since the injury, while the Mavericks have collected wins and scoring bursts from the players who came back in the move. Bagley’s outburst on March 27 and Middleton’s bench scoring two weeks earlier are the kind of nights that can change how a trade is judged long after the paperwork is signed.
What remains is the part Washington cannot fix this spring. If Davis does not return, the season ends with him stuck at a career low in appearances and with the team still searching for a win when he is available. That is a costly outcome for a player brought in to change the direction of a team, and it leaves the trade looking better in Dallas than it does anywhere else.