HOW SERIOUS WERE THE TALKS?: We are told that a specific KG-for-Howard-and-Stackhouse offer was never on the table as the Feb. 22 deadline approached. That backs up Harper's "discussion item'' clarification. The matter was taken seriously enough that the front office broached the idea with coach Avery Johnson.
But, said a team source: “It was at most exploratory. There was never some specific ‘will you take this for this’ proposal from Minnesota.’’
From what we can gather, as compelling as the story is, this wasn’t as much the Mavs talking with Minny GM Kevin McHale as it was the Mavs brass – Cuban, Nelson, Avery – talking amongst themselves.
HOW IT MIGHT'VE WORKED: There must have been a few more parts in the trade idea just to satisfy the NBA trade rules, because KG-for-Howard-and-Stackhouse doesn't work all by itself. But if the understanding is that those would have been all the primary talents in such a deal, the most efficient trade matchup that would have involved the fewest number of players moving mid-season would have merely added Austin Croshere to the Dallas side of the ledger. That deal - a simple 3-for-1 - would have been able to slide past thorny trade rules, as follows:
FROM THE MAVS END: The Mavs were over the cap. To receive KG's 21M salary, they were required to send away in that trade at least 16.72M in current annual salary (16.72M x 125%, plus 100K, equals exactly 21.00M). J-Ho (1.6676M), Stack (9.2969M), and Croshere (7.3M) add up to 18.2645M, which would have been more than sufficient to meet the CBA's requirement. The Mavs could do such a trade.