{"id":431341,"date":"2026-01-23T03:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431341\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T03:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:20:11","slug":"latest-anthony-davis-ja-morant-trade-rumors-on-warriors-raptors-plans-at-2026-nba-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431341\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Anthony Davis, Ja Morant Trade Rumors on Warriors, Raptors Plans at 2026 NBA Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors’ rumored trade interest in Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis is due at least in part to the influence of player agent Rich Paul, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg<\/a> reported Thursday.<\/p>\n

According to Lewenberg, the Raptors “have held internal conversations about the pros and cons of trading for Davis,” although “their reported interest appears to be driven by Davis’s representation.”<\/p>\n

Paul “is said to be working tirelessly to force a trade and get his client to greener pastures,” Lewenberg wrote.<\/p>\n

However, NBA insider Jake Fischer<\/a> reported Thursday that the Raptors and Atlanta Hawks “have been signaling that they are no longer involved in significant trade talks with the Mavericks.”<\/p>\n

Fischer added that Toronto “isn’t actively pursuing Memphis’ Ja Morant, either, even though the Grizzlies continue to welcome inquiries for Morant.”<\/p>\n

While the Raptors may be out on Davis, Fischer reports that Toronto is “still intrigued by the prospect of pursuing Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis.”<\/p>\n

Fischer added that the Golden State Warriors “have not shown any interest in trying to trade” Jimmy Butler, who is out for the season with an ACL injury, for Davis and “that they don’t plan to entertain any move involving Butler unless a truly top-tier trade target tries to push their way toward teaming up with Curry.”<\/p>\n

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon<\/a> had previously reported that Davis’ “preference would be to stay in Dallas and to get that extension this summer,” but that the Mavericks were “trying to generate a good trade market.”<\/p>\n

“In a situation like this, Rich Paul is going to be involved. They are going to want AD traded somewhere that is willing to give him a long, lucrative extension,” MacMahon said.<\/p>\n

The Mavs have fallen to 18-26 and 12th in the Western Conference while playing most of the season without Davis, who hasn’t played since Jan. 8 due to ligament damage in his hand.<\/p>\n

Davis is playing under a $54 million cap hit this season which would require the Raptors, should they facilitate a trade, to move out multiple contracts in order to fit him under the cap.<\/p>\n

According to Lewenberg, “TSN can confirm that Toronto appears willing to part with some combination of Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett, or at least that’s the impression that rival teams have gleaned from exploratory discussions.”<\/p>\n

Poetl is locked in at a $28 million average annual salary through 2030, while Quickley is signed at a $32.5 million AAV through 2029, per Spotrac<\/a>. Barrett has one year and $29.6 million remaining on his current deal.<\/p>\n

Moving a combination of those players would theoretically allow the Raptors to make room for a star player like Davis under the cap, while also increasing the team’s cap flexibility over the next few seasons.<\/p>\n

What the Raptors ultimately decide to do could be influenced by the job status of general manager Bobby Webster, who is currently in the final year of his contract with the team.<\/p>\n

TSN’s Michael Grange<\/a> recently reported that the Raptors and Webster “have had exploratory discussions on a multi-year extension to his current deal with talks expected to pick up after the trade deadline.”<\/p>\n

Lewenberg wrote Thursday that “sources within MLSE insist that Webster has full autonomy and is under no pressure to take a big swing in his first at-bat.”<\/p>\n

“But in declining to elevate him to the president’s role and dangling the title over his head like a carrot, this was always going to be a make-or-break season for Toronto’s GM, as well as several others on his staff and in the organization,” Lewenberg wrote.<\/p>\n

The Raptors are currently sitting at No. 4 in the Eastern Conference after a 27-19 start to the season with about two weeks remaining until the Feb. 5 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Given Davis’ extensive injury history, and the expectation that Paul and Davis will be seeking an extension with whoever he’s playing for come springtime, Webster will have to evaluate whether Davis or his current core would give his team a better chance to make a playoff run before his current GM contract expires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Raptors’ rumored trade interest in Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis is due at least in part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-431341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}