If Mavericks really believe defense is the way to win championships, they can acquire it. If you want a player that's got MVP-level offensive ability while also being a true difference maker on defense, someone who can truly own a game on either side of the floor, there's only two players in the NBA that can do that; Giannis and Embiid. Giannis overlaps a bit more with Davis, who prefers to be a four anyway, so Embiid it is.
Mavericks
Dallas would immediately assemble the most frightening twin towers in at least the last two decades. There's been a lot of good ones; Boogie and AD himself, KAT and Gobert if you like that sort of thing, arguably Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. But you'd have to go back to David Robinson and Tim Duncan to find anything even close to this. Both are injury prone and older (though the same is true of Kyrie as well), but if you're going to be building a team to win right now, swinging a trade that gets someone who was still a recent MVP instead of just a "very solid star" like Kyrie makes a lot of sense. Not to mention, their injury issues might be vastly improved when they know their counterpart can cover for them and lower their minutes, especially with another stud rim protector in Derrick Lively off the bench even if they do have to miss a game or two. They lose a bit of depth by combining Washington and Gafford for Embiid, but you move two role players for an MVP any day (especially with two other starting-caliber bigs already on the roster anyway).
The backcourt is really where they would be feeling some pain from this. Going from Kyrie to Jalen Green is definitely a downgrade; you're swapping out a 25 PPG kinda guy for a 20 PPG one. Neither are great playmakers for others, but Irving is definitely better. Still, Green is cheaper, under contract for much longer, and most importantly he's a decade younger. He's had some struggles with shot selection and efficiency at times, and he really is a true 2-guard and not a PG. However, Tyrese Maxey was a player in a similar mold, who looks like an All-Star when sharing the floor with Embiid and dissolves into an inefficient shot chucker when he's not. This is a team that was likely going to count on Irving to be #1, Davis #2, and Klay or presumably Cooper Flagg to be #3. That's not ideal. Now with Embiid the clear #1, Irving's replacement at #2, and Davis bumped down to #3, everyone is slotted into a role that they can overachieve instead of underachieve.
They still would be a bit light on the wings; they resorted to playing guys down a position or two last year to compensate, and that isn't really fixed here. Klay being gone definitely is a bit of a blow as well in that regard. However, they've got stocky 3-D vets at the three like Naji Marshall and Caleb Martin. Asssuming Jalen Green is the de facto PG, they can have an open competition between guys like Max Christie, Jaden Hardy, and Ricky Council, who all showed solid flashes in different ways last year. Realistically, they'll probably look to bring back Spencer Dinwiddie for PG depth, and try and find some cheap vet in the mold of a Gary Trent Jr., Malik Beasley, maybe Even Tim Hardaway Jr., etc. It might feel like this is a team lacking secondary creators, but again, Green already IS the secondary creator; Embiid is the guy. He basically tied Maxey in assists in 2024, and certainly had a much higher usage. He's shown that you can get a top-10 offense AND defense outta him with one other decent guard, as long as there's decent shooting (and even if his team has minimal other playmakers or size).
No one would compete with this team inside, and they match up incredibly well with their Western Conference competition. OKC is the clear top dog, but they rely on a paper thin Holmgren to protect the rim and even run 6'5 Jalen Williams at small ball; good luck doing that against this mammoth front line. Embiid always dominates Jokic head to head, and he and Davis together might swallow him up. Minnesota, L.A., and even Houston have good squads, but there's definitely an argument that this one would be the best. The final question is, is it worth giving up Flagg? It's certainly hard to argue that this franchise will be better in 5 years with Jalen Green than with him. But look at the team again. Everything they've done has put them in a position to win right now. If Nico decides to sell off AD and Kyrie to build around Flagg, that would be great, but they seem to want to compete right now. It's inarguable this trade helps them do that, without giving up any future assets, AND still gets them back a previous #2 overall pick himself who's a proven 20 PPG scorer and might have even more upside once given a more fitting role. They could realistically win a ring during Embiid/Davis's windows, and then be set up in a few years with a battle-tested second banana entering his prime and oodles of cap space to try and attract a new number one guy. Shoot, maybe Green himself could become that someday; he got drafted where he did for a reason. I personally think they should sell and rebuild, but it's clear the Mavericks themselves don't think so, and I think this is a better strategy than drafting Flagg and trying to avoid the play-in again.
76ers
Not much analysis here. You already either think they should run it back and bank on all that on-paper talent finally being healthy, or they should finally trade Embiid and kickstart a rebuild. Last time Embiid was actually healthy, he had just won one MVP and was well on his way to a second straight, and then had his best playoff series despite even more injuries, and THEN his team added an actual true 3-d All-Star caliber guy; an archetype he's literally never had before. Maybe they should keep the gang together... but not in this trade.
In the short term, this new team would still be moderately competitive. A starting lineup of Fred VanVleet, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre, Paul George, and Jock Landale isn't good, obviously, but (assuming health + no intentional tanking) this is still a team that has too much veteran savvy and grit to win fewer than 30-35 games. Of course, I'm burying the lede though; the 76ers would end up with #1, #3, and #10. They could completely reshape their future within the span of an hour during the draft. Paul George's contract likely makes him untradable, but those young guys could use the remaining two years to develop anyway. Once the big money is off the books, the 76ers could be starting a new era with Maxey, Jared McCain, Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Derik Queen, and TWO max contract slots (or insane depth). That's miles better than their current prognosis.
Rockets
Despite this section probably ending up shorter than the Mavericks one, I find Houston's direction the msot interesting. They're an incredible deep team, but sit at a crossroads, seemingly lacking the star power to get into the league's true elite category, despite their excellent regular season record. There's an argument this doesn't fix that, and that if anything it makes them worse by not having Green's upside + another crack at the lotto with #10. However, they won 52 games last year and were the 2 seed. They're not taking some developmental late lottery guy and hoping he'll be the next SGA or Haliburton in four years from now. And they already have guys with a pedigree sitting on the roster, with five former top-20 picks in the last 3 years, including the recent #3 overall pick in Reed Sheppard who barely saw the floor.
If we want to talk about the most important asset here, it's obviously Kyrie, who's sort of replacing VanVleet as the veteran PG who can tame the youngsters, and Jalen Green as the shoot-first combo guard that can be a primary option. However, now there's a guy that can do both at once, and hopefully Sheppard can step in and play more of a role with the opened up minutes. This team won so much on the backs of their amazing defense, which started with all their young freaky forwards; Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Amen Thompson, and Cam Whitmore in particular. P.J. Washington should be one more slight variation on that same flavor, and just give them even more flexibility and depth, if he's not flipped for guard depth. Speaking of guards, Dillon Brooks doesn't hurt as an additional antagonist there, and now they'll also get to add Klay Thompson. He can still guard decently and help hide Kyrie, while also adding a dimension to the offense as a movement shooter that they lacked. Handoffs with Klay and Sengun could harken back to his partnership with Draymond, or perhaps evoke the more direct comparison of Sabonis with any number of Sacramento shooters. Daniel Gafford is a fairly sizable upgrade over Jock Landale at the backup 5, and is excellent insurance if Steven Adams doesn't return, as double-big lineups with him and Sengun become almost frighteningly important for the Rockets' crunchtime offense last year.
All in all, this should allow the Rockets to continue with everything they're actually good at already (in some cases even doubling down on it), all while getting an upgraded #1 scorer; what playoff team wouldn't want that? Worst-case scenario, you probably still win 50ish games, Irving is expiring just like FVV was, the other three guys are all on 1-2 deals too so you can let them walk if they're not flipped at the deadline for more future capital. Then you head into next season with more reps for Sheppard and maybe a little extra on-ball opportunities for the young forwards than if Green AND FVV were both around, plus more cap space with Green gone. And the best case? Just a better season than 2-seed... picture that going however far you want.