Marc Stein reported early Thursday morning that the Mavericks are still pursuing trade options after being left out of the point guard merry-go-round Wednesday. Stein says that they are still pursuing long time rumored target Tayshaun Prince and that they are one of the teams after secondary Nuggets trade baid J.R. Smith. He classifies both as long shots for Dallas, as the Pistons have continued to resist the temptation to move Prince and Denver likely has better options for Smith if they do decide to part with him.
↵↵↵Denver, however, appears to be taking the same stance with Smith as it's taken with newly acquired Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton as well as Nuggets mainstay Nene. Which is to say that the Nuggets are telling teams that they don't even want to part with Smith before the deadline, preferring to focus on trying to clinch a playoff spot before considering further roster shuffling in conjunction closer to the draft in June.
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Both players have expiring contracts, removing Caron Butler as an appealing trade chip. The Mavericks have considered using Butler as a dollar saving enticement for one of several money-starved NBA franchises, but because that swap would not save Detroit or Denver money, Dallas would have to pair Butler with enough cheap, young talent to make their offer desirable. The odds of them producing that package are long, but Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson are always willing to pursue personnel possibilities to their endpoints.
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