WASHINGTON — Reports of Anthony Davis’ unhappiness with being traded to the Washington Wizards are overblown, according to Anthony Davis.

“They said I said a lot of stuff in the other city, too, that I didn’t say,” Davis told The Athletic in a phone interview late Friday afternoon, in the midst of his first visit with the Wizards’ ownership and front office. That group includes governor Ted Leonsis; Monumental president of media & new enterprises Zach Leonsis; president of Monumental Basketball Michael Winger; Wizards general manager Will Dawkins; and senior vice president of Monumental Basketball, John Thompson III.

The Wizards traded for the 32-year-old Davis on Wednesday, sending four players and five draft picks to the Dallas Mavericks for Davis and guards D’Angelo Russell, Jaden Hardy and Danté Exum.

One report, from Sports Illustrated’s veteran NBA reporter Chris Mannix, suggested that Davis “likely isn’t enthusiastic about joining the Wizards,” a sentiment Mannix reinforced on a podcast on Thursday.

Davis said he likes what he’s seen so far.

“The visit’s been great,” he said. “They definitely welcomed me with open arms, spent some time with Ted and Zach. It’s totally different from what they make it seem. I know it’s like, oh, they have the stigma of they’re not a good team. I haven’t seen the practice facility yet, but the arena is top-notch, world-class for sure. Seen the chefs and how they take care of the families. It’s been great.”

The 10-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA first teamer, five-time All-Defensive selection and member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team was surprised the Wizards jumped the line and made a deal for him. He has an open mind about the rebuild that Winger and Dawkins have initiated, which has brought in several young, promising players, including Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly.

Still, Davis wants to have more detailed discussions with the team’s braintrust about how it plans to get the franchise to not just playoff level, but also contender status.

Davis has a player option for the 2027-28 season at $62.7 million. He is under contract for next season at $58.4 million. (Davis had hand surgery in mid-January and was expected to be out at least six weeks, going into early March, before returning to the floor.)

“I need to talk with Will, Ted, Zach, and kind of figure out what the actual plan is, and then just kind of go from there,” Davis said. “I talked briefly (Friday) with Will. Obviously, at this time, every year, you want to compete for championships and stuff like that. That’s obviously the main focus, getting to that place. Conversations are going to be held to see about getting to that space. I’ve been everywhere the last two years. I want to see the plan, hear the plan, see the vision. Bringing Trae (Young) here and other things in store, what they’re thinking of doing, I want to have those conversations with them and see what happens. The city is obviously phenomenal.”

Like many NBA players, Davis has loved coming through town over the years, whether with the Pelicans, Lakers or Mavericks.

“It’s D.C. Who doesn’t?”

However, as Beyoncé once sang, Davis is looking for someone who can put a ring on it — a real shot at a second NBA championship to go with the ring he won with the Lakers in 2020.

He hoped he’d have a chance to do so in Dallas, which shocked all of planet Earth a year ago by trading Luka Dončić to Los Angeles for Davis in a multi-player, multi-pick deal. Former Mavericks GM Nico Harrison wanted to build a defense-first team around Davis, centers Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, and wings Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington, with guard Kyrie Irving orchestrating it all.

Dallas’ hopes for a quick turnaround were accelerated when the Mavericks overcame seemingly prohibitive odds to win the first pick in last year’s draft and take Duke forward Cooper Flagg.

Davis has been hurt most of the year, though, playing in just 20 games. Irving is still rehabbing the torn ACL he suffered last March. Lively is out for the season after having foot surgery last December. And Harrison didn’t make it to Thanksgiving before being fired.

Despite Flagg’s great rookie season thus far, the Mavericks aren’t anywhere close to being title contenders. Neither are the Wizards.

“It’s hard to say (I would definitely stay in D.C.) without the proper plan,” Davis said. “Obviously, it’s tough right now with the team. It shows with their record, but adding certain pieces, that can change. It’s year by year. They could be the No. 1 team in the East next year.”

Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, said Friday that he, too, will speak with Dawkins at length about the team’s long-term plans. The two had a brief conversation after the trade Thursday, but Paul said he wouldn’t bring up extension talks with Dawkins and ownership for a while.

Paul acknowledged that neither the Mavericks nor the Wizards informed him about the deal before it was consummated, but he downplayed the significance.

“They don’t have to do it,” he said. “It’s a courtesy thing, but they don’t have to do it. Sometimes these are bang-bang things. … Guys get traded in the middle of the night all the time. They don’t owe it to you.”

Paul’s Klutch Sports Group has a partnership with Leonsis’ Monumental Sports and Entertainment, representing the parent company that owns the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics in potential revenue-producing opportunities. MSE is in the middle of an $800 million renovation of Capital One Arena that began last year and is scheduled to conclude before the start of the 2027-28 NBA and NHL seasons. Klutch helped broker the deal between Monumental and the financial services company Robinhood in 2023 to become the Wizards’ jersey-patch sponsor.

Paul also represents second-year guard Bub Carrington, one of the Wizards’ three first-round picks in the 2024 draft, and rookie wing Will Riley, whose rights Washington acquired on draft night last year in a deal with the Utah Jazz. Riley scored a career-high 20 points as the Wizards upset the top-of-the-East Pistons Thursday in Detroit, even as Washington rested several starters in the fourth quarter.

On Paul’s weekly “Game Over” podcast with Max Kellerman, which dropped Friday afternoon, Paul also praised Washington’s ownership.

“It starts at the top,” Paul said on the podcast. “Ted Leonsis, Zach Leonsis, you’re not going to find two better people than that, and I’m going to tell you why. When you look at ownership, you want them to be able to do one thing for you: be willing to pay the (luxury) tax once we put something on the floor that is taxable. (Cavaliers governor) Dan Gilbert did it. (Warriors governor) Joe Lacob did it. The Celtics did it.”

The Wizards have gone into the tax once during Leonsis’ stewardship of the team, in 2017. That team featured John Wall and Bradley Beal entering their primes, and it got within a game of the Eastern Conference finals, losing Game 7 of its second-round series against the Celtics in Boston. Davis is much older now than Wall and Beal were then. The clock is ticking. He needs clarity going forward.

“At this point in my career, I want to compete for a championship,” Davis said. “Whether that’s here or elsewhere, I have no idea. It’s been phenomenal, everything they’re saying. Everything they’re showing me is nothing short of phenomenal. Now it’s about having an actual conversation about the team.”