At midday Wednesday, DeMarcus Cousins was all smiles after Sacramento's shootaround at American Airlines Center.
He coyly fielded a question a question from The Dallas Morning News about the Mavericks' rumored interest in acquiring him by saying, "I'm flattered" and of the Mavericks, "I respect them."
He even lifted his practice jersey, briefly showed off his hard-tattooed abs and declared himself a sex symbol. "I'm going to start wearing [half] shirts like Ezekiel Elliott," he added.
By night's end, after Sacramento pulled away in the second half to beat Dallas 120-89, Cousins had displayed many other attributes that would make the Mavericks and many other NBA teams covet him.