Report: Only One Team is 'Definitely' Interested in Anthony Davis

Where there's smoke.... We've heard plenty of rumors that the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons are teams that are interested in swinging a trade for Dallas Mavericks' 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis. Now comes a new report that not only is the Raptors' interest real, but they are the ONLY team that's seriously considering it, at this point.

Marc Stein on Anthony Davis trade talks/rumours:

“Toronto has definitely registered interest. That is for certain.”

“The Hawks, I think, is more exploratory, and I think Detroit’s interest has been vastly overstated.”

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— Omer Osman (@OmerOsman200) December 17, 2025

“Toronto has definitely registered interest. That is for certain," said NBA insider Marc Stein on the DLLS Mavs podcast.

“The Hawks, I think, is more exploratory... and I think Detroit’s interest has been vastly overstated.”

With the East seemingly wide open this season, the Raptors have surprisingly jumped up into the thick of things at the top of the conference, currently sitting in the 3-seed going into play Thursday night. They must feel that adding a superstar big man could make them a legitimate threat to come out of the conference.

And it's not like Toronto has not jumped at the chance to add a star player who comes at a reduced price before. They traded for an injured Kawhi Leonard, of course, in 2018, and he led them to a championship. And this past year, they made another move for a star player.

Raptors traded for star Brandon Ingram last season, now looking to add Davis

"The Raptors were aggressive and traded for Brandon Ingram last year when they were nowhere near win-now," added Stein. "But you could also see that the Raptors thought they were getting Ingram at somewhat of a discount because he had had a lot of injury issues to that point."

Davis has become a trade candidate since the Mavs fired the GM who brought him there in the infamous Luke Doncic trade, Nico Harrison. But AD has had injury troubles that make Brandon Ingram almost seem like an iron man. Davis has only played 11 games this season. He has averaged 20 points, 10.5 boards and 1.6 blocked shots in those contests.

But realistically, how much can Toronto, or any other team, depend on Davis to be on the court when it matters? He has had only two fully healthy seasons in the last eight years. One of them, in 2020, wound up with an NBA title with the LA Lakers. Otherwise, he's averaged just 57 games in the last six full NBA seasons.

One Raptors/Mavs trade rumor has already been making the rounds.