Celtics Almost Traded with Lakers for Anthony Davis Last Season

Before the Los Angeles Lakers' blockbuster trade of a package anchored by Anthony Davis in an exchange with the Dallas Mavericks for five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris rocked the NBA landscape for a generation, the Boston Celtics allegedly almost nabbed Davis for themselves.

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It's a good thing they didn't. Even though team president Brad Stevens took a wrecking ball to his championship core this past summer to dip under the league's punitive second luxury tax apron (with more deals presumably to come before the deadline so he can get under the first tax apron), he at least isn't saddled with long-term money committed to a former All-Star big who's perpetually rehabbing one injury or another on the bench.

Kristaps Porzingis, now with the Atlanta Hawks after Stevens flipped him during the offseason, was already that pricey piece for the Celtics. Davis, who has played just 14 regular season games for the Mavericks (and 16 including the play-in tournament last spring) since the Feb. 1 deal, is currently hurt yet again.

Celtics Considered Blockbuster Midseason Anthony Davis Deal

Per Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Lakers engaged in Davis-centered trade talks with several clubs starting in December 2024 — and the Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks emerged as the most interested parties. Eventually, Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka swindled his old friend Nico Harrison for Doncic, in a hilariously lopsided deal that would get Harrison fired just nine months later.

The marriage between Anthony Davis and the Lakers was fractured before Luka Doncic was even an option.

After months of gathering intel, here is what I found out about AD's relationship with the Lakers, including secret AD trade talks before Luka: https://t.co/YcjGBDuXHY
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) November 14, 2025

Eventually, Boston ditched all three of its top centers from its 2024 title run over the summer to save money. Porzingis was shipped to Atlanta, while Al Horford signed with the Golden State Warriors and Luke Kornet agreed to a free agent deal with the San Antonio Spurs.

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The team brought in reserve big men Luka Garza and Chris Boucher to compete for rotation minutes with incumbent, elevated former fourth-stringer Neemias Queta. Queta is currently Boston's starting five, and while he's not Anthony Davis, Kristaps Porzingis or even late-career Al Horford, he has been a solid value option on a veteran's minimum $2.3 million deal.

While appearing in all 13 games for the 6-7 Celtics, the 26-year-old 7-footer out of Utah State has been averaging 8.9 points on 64.9 percent shooting from the floor and 61.5 percent shooting from the foul line, 8.1 boards, 1.6 assists and 1.4 blocks a night.

With Dallas reeling and now seemingly willing to part with veterans like Davis and Kyrie Irving as the team tries to build around 18-year-old rookie phenom Cooper Flagg, would Boston be interested in trying to bring in the 32-year-old Davis again?

He's too much of an injury risk. Granted, when he does play he remains very solid — although he's heavier than he had been in his prime, and has lost his knack for outside shooting.

Davis is in the first year of a brutal three-season, $175.4 million extension deal he had agreed to while still with Los Angeles. He has a $62.8 million player option in 2027-28. Davis has missed the last two weeks of action for the 3-9 Mavericks with a calf injury. In his five healthy games this season, the 6-foot-10 Kentucky product has been averaging 20.8 points on .520/.273/.742 shooting splits, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 dimes, 1.6 swipes and 1.2 rejections per.

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