Anthony Davis is not going anywhere. Not from the Washington Wizards, at least.
Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto reported Tuesday that the Wizards plan to open extension talks with Davis when he becomes eligible on August 6. Washington sees the 33-year-old, 10-time All-Star as a long-term piece of the rebuild, not a trade chip to flip for younger assets.
“With fellow star Anthony Davis extension-eligible August 6th, the Wizards plan to have extension talks with the 33-year-old, 10-time All-Star forward, league sources told HoopsHype,” Scotto wrote.
This is a hard pivot for a franchise that has been in full teardown mode. NBA insider Marc Spears reported earlier that Washington had “no plans” to trade Davis, but an extension takes that idea from denial to full commitment.
The math is interesting. Davis landed in Washington in the wild deadline trade where Dallas sent him, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum out for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks and three seconds. It was a stunning deal, made stranger by the fact that Dallas had just acquired Davis a few weeks earlier in the Luka Doncic bombshell.
Washington also drafted BYU star AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick and gave Trae Young a four-year, $212 million contract after acquiring him from Atlanta. Add in an extended Davis and the Wizards suddenly look like a real team, not a lottery machine.
The catch is Davis’s health. He has battled leg, foot and shoulder issues for years. Extending a 33-year-old big man with that resume is dangerous business, especially if the number gets north of $50 million per year.
Still, this is the price Washington is willing to pay to convince Davis he is wanted. The Wizards have not made the playoffs since the 2020-21 season. They cannot afford to alienate a top-25 player and then hope the young core figures it out on its own.
An extension also signals to Trae Young that Washington is serious. Young signed his massive deal expecting real teammates, not a permanent development team. Locking in Davis for another few years tells him the front office is going to spend to compete.
Around the league, this changes things. Every team that was quietly waiting for Washington to shop Davis at the deadline now has to look elsewhere. That includes the Warriors, who were rumored to have interest. It also removes one of the few real trade chips a rebuilding team could have moved for a package of draft picks.
The bigger question is whether Davis and Young actually mesh on the floor. Young is a ball-dominant lead guard who needs shooting and cutting around him. Davis is at his best as a rolling and popping big who can carry the paint on defense. On paper, the fit works. In practice, it depends on health, coaching and whether Dybantsa develops into the No. 1 pick everyone thinks he can be.
For now, Washington is betting on Davis being part of the answer. That is a much different message than the one this franchise has been sending for years.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
