A lengthy injury history is going to be the major problem for the Golden State Warriors or any rival team looking to trade for All-Star big man Anthony Davis before the February 5 deadline.
Yet if the Warriors were to pull off a blockbuster deal for Davis by relinquishing likely all three of Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, they would quietly have the ideal insurance to guard against the 32-year-old's injury concerns.
Warriors have insurance to cover Anthony Davis' injury issues
As the Dallas Mavericks have learnt this season, it's hard to maintain winning basketball with a $50+ million player regularly on the sidelines. However, Golden State do have a roster that could still compete during the regular season even when Davis misses games, allowing him to manage at times in the hope of being fully healthy for the playoffs.
Assuming a Davis trade sends out Green, Kuminga and Hield, the Warriors would still have veteran stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler to generate offense when Davis is unavailable. Curry is often a one-man offense within himself, while Butler has averaged 19.7 points and 4.9 assists on an efficient 51.6% shooting from the floor and 41% from 3-point range this season.
As they are doing right now, the Curry-Butler duo could still make the Warriors a reasonable team. Adding a healthy version of Davis could be the infusion of talent Golden State needs though, making it a ceiling-raising trade that could lift the franchise into genuine championship contention.
The other insurance factor here is that Golden State have no shortage of rotational big men. With Quinten Post, Al Horford and Trayce Jackson-Davis, the Warriors would still be able to fill the center minutes when Davis is on the sidelines.
Just as importantly though, the presence of Post and Horford as stretch big men could allow Davis to play plenty of minutes at his preferred power forward position, which in turn may also reduce the chances of more injury woes.
This is all a moot point until such time as the Warriors are willing to trade Green, something they're not currently willing to do according to Sam Amick of The Athletic on Wednesday. But with the upside that Davis could provide to a currently average team, and the insurances in place to combat his injury concerns, it's certainly a move that's worthy of exploring despite the risks that come with it.