Cavaliers get major relief after Hawks fumble chance to overtake them in East

At 21-18, everyone knows this season has been massively disappointing to start 2025-26 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. At 18-21, the Atlanta Hawks are incredibly familiar with that feeling. Despite that, they just passed up an easy chance to escape that misery and catapult themselves past the Cavs.

The Hawks made the decision to part with their franchise player, Trae Young, earlier this week. The return package in the trade to the Washington Wizards was brutally disappointing. CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert were on their way back to Atlanta for their troubles.

There was an opportunity there to pivot and turn that into Anthony Davis. The Hawks have consistently been linked to the Dallas Mavericks big man. This could have been their moment to make that happen. Davis makes $54.1 million this season. The framework was there.

Instead, the Young trade was finalized on Friday, taking a potential reroute for Davis' services off the table for the Hawks. Atlanta can still go get Davis, but the challenge of getting to his large cap figure is made tougher from their inaction. The Cavaliers can breathe easier knowing that.

Cleveland doesn't have to worry about Anthony Davis in Atlanta — for now

The Hawks can still throw together a trade package built around Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kennard that gets them most of the way to Davis before figuring out the rest of the details. They are not without options. They did pass up a good one here, though.

With how mediocre the East has been — and the Cavaliers playing a large part in that — teams have been licking their chops to fill the power vacuum. The Hawks have certainly not been the dark-horse contender that was advertised before the season, but Davis could have bridged that gap a ton.

"The Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors are two teams identified by league sources as potential suitors for Davis," Christian Clark and Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote, "League sources say Davis is believed to be amenable to both options."

The Hawks need big man help up front. Even on the downswing of his career, Davis still provides considerable star-caliber help when healthy (which is admittedly a large variable). The Mavs big man has still been a 20 and 10 guy this year with capable defense on the other end.

Would a Hawks team with Davis really be better than the Cavs? Tough to say, but hard to entirely discount. It's not like the Cavaliers have definitively proven themselves in any meaningful way this season. This would have been yet another formidable challenger to fend off in any case.

There is still time before Feb. 5. Davis could still end up in Atlanta. A built-in path to that future has been taken off the table, though, for the time being.