Late Sunday afternoon, shortly before his Mavericks would face two-time reigning NBA champion Golden State and take the Warriors to the wire for the third time in as many attempts this season, Mark Cuban made a seemingly persuasive argument for keeping Dennis Smith Jr.
But was the Mavericks owner touting Smith's merits in order to strongly tamp down persistent trade rumors? Or was he stoking Smith's trade value?
Barely 24 hours after the Mavericks narrowly lost to Warriors, with Smith missing his third straight game and 16th of the season, the tweet bomb came from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski:
The Dallas Mavericks are escalating discussions to find a trade for point guard Dennis Smith Jr.