Sporting Kansas City trades for veteran Houston Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis

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For years, Brad Davis was a thorn in Sporting Kansas City’s side.

Now he’s on their side.

Sporting KC announced on Thursday that it acquired Davis from the Houston Dynamo in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2017 draft and a third-round pick the following year.

Davis played for the last 10 years as steady hand in Houston Dynamo’s lineup. That meant in recent years, he’d become one of Sporting KC’s main adversaries in postseason Major League Soccer play. Sporting KC had aspirations of MLS titles in 2011 and 2012, only to lose to defensively stingy Houston Dynamo teams, captained by Davis, each time. Sporting KC eventually overcame Houston in the playoffs in 2013 en route to the second MLS championship in franchise history.

At first blush, the trade for Davis is a bit of a headscratcher. Midfield is Sporting KC’s strongest position with Benny Feilhaber and Roger Espinoza anchoring the middle section of the field. They also signed veteran free agent midfielder Justin Mapp, who played for Montreal Impact last season.

Then again, it’s worth remembering how much Espinoza’s season-ending injury coincided with Sporting KC’s late-season slump in 2015. It would have been nice to insert someone like Davis into Espinoza’s spot rather than go to the type of patchwork lineups the team fielded late in the year.

“This is another move that not only bolsters our roster, but will also bring a different dynamic once preseason starts in a couple of weeks,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said in a written statement.

Davis started a World Cup match for the United States in 2014 in a loss to eventual champion Germany. He’s played in MLS for 14 years, making the all-star squad six times. He leads all active MLS players with 122 assists over his career in the league, good for third all time.