The Washington Wizards' trend of winning trades is surely new territory for a fanbase that was forced to deal with the questionable decisions from the previous regime. Still, it's a new norm that supporters can easily get behind.
Washington landed an All-Star guard entering his prime in Trae Young in a player-for-player swap that only cost the team CJ McCollum's expiring deal and Corey Kispert, which at the time already made the Wizards front office look like geniuses.
Weeks later, the team made a blockbuster splash for Anthony Davis, a deal that came out of left field and left many shocked.
The final verdict on the deal is obviously still up in the air, depending on how the two-way star looks when he returns to full health, but with the recent developments over the last 24 hours, the Dallas Mavericks' return for the player they mortgaged Luka Doncic away for is looking worse by the day.
The Wizards updated package for Anthony Davis looks terrible now
Washington acquired Davis ahead of February's trade deadline in exchange for a package of Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, and three second-round picks.
In addition to AD, the Wizards also landed D'Angelo Russell, Dante Exum, and Jaden Hardy, whom they've now used in additional deals to continue reshaping their roster this offseason.
Fast forward to now, the package the Mavericks received has received a drastic update that only adds questions to the direction Dallas is moving in.
Dallas immediately moved on from Malaki Branham; they only got 29 games out of Middleton (re-signed with the Wizards), 22 games from Bagley III (signed with the Nuggets), used the contract of AJ Johnson along with the first-round pick to land Santi Aldama from the Memphis Grizzlies this offseason, and selected Koa Peat with the other first-round selection, all just to trade him too.
As for the Wizards, Washington used Hardy's contract to bolster their frontcourt by landing Deandre Ayton from the Los Angeles Lakers, flipped D'Angelo Russell to bring Middleton back to the DMV, and moved on from Exum.
Not to mention, things seem to be trending in the direction of the Wizards signing Davis to a long-term extension this offseason.
If you look at what's left over from the two sides, the updated return from both sides is:
Wizards Receive: Anthony Davis, Deandre Ayton
Mavericks Receive: Santi Aldama, Sergio de Larrea and three second-round picks.
Obviously, these moves all came at different times, and the Mavs were also rewarded with Cooper Flagg for moving on from Doncic (shoutout Adam Silver), but in terms of the Wizards' final haul, it's safe to say they got away with a heist.
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