By Zack Cunningham

Another week down, another week closer to the May 15 NBA Draft Lottery!

It’s been a relatively quiet week on the Mavs front save for a few juicy tidbits.

Potential future Dallas Maverick Mo Bamba was featured in a Ringer piece detailing his extensive work with Pure Sweat trainer Drew Hanlen.

You might’ve seen these videos a few weeks back showing off Bamba’s re-tooled shooting form and also his progress working in the low post. Yes, we know Hanlen is only 5’11 (something he alludes to in the Ringer article), but this progress is encouraging and, as per the article, only the tip of the iceberg in terms of Bamba’s pre-draft workout.

I realize not everyone is going to be as high on Bamba as, say, me or Jeff “Skin” Wade and that’s OK. But I’m putting him in my top 3 of the big board and not moving away from it.

Awwwww yeah, let's do this – At this point I actually find the anti-Bamba people to be adorable https://t.co/AwzuEF2YC5 — Jeff Skin Wade (@SkinWade) May 10, 2018

There’s a couple of interesting pieces from dallasbasketball.com and our good friends David Lord and Dalton Trigg.

First, we know Dirk Nowitzki is coming back next year. But the nuts and bolts of that arrangement? It’s a little tricky.

Dirk “technically” has a team option for the 2018-19 season which will likely be declined by the Mavs as they look to be as prudent as possible with their cap space.

But, WHY, would the Mavs decline the option on the face of their franchise? As Lord mentions in the article, Dirk has always been, at least for the last few years as he’s aged, a “take it and see” kind of guy.

Having the option declined means Dallas could potentially sign him using an exception and keep the door open for a possible 2019-20 season … “if Dirk feels like it.”

Check out the link for more information on that as Lord does a much better job going into the details than I can.

The other piece from dallasbasketball.com is one for the Mavs pipe-dreamers out there … and it talks about probably the most natural heir-apparent to Dirk’s throne, Kristaps Porzingis.

The #Mavs called the Knicks about Kristaps Porzingis last year. With a much more attractive draft pick this time around, & Porzingis having torn his ACL, why not try again? I brainstorm that pipe-dream here: https://t.co/hPXI0j2IV8 pic.twitter.com/wWeOk3Rcff — Dalton Trigg (@dalton_trigg) May 9, 2018

While the chances of this something like Trigg mentions happening are next to zero (a point he concedes early on), it’s still worthwhile to understand the how of how something like this might happen.

Porzingis has a torn ACL. The Knicks need out of Joakim Noah’s contract in a bad way.

What’s that you say Dallas? A top-3 pick, Wes Matthews’ expiring deal and some other stuff? Why not make the call?

On a final note, Rick Carlisle isn’t going anywhere. We already covered that on The Trailing 3 earlier in the week if you missed it. Read up if you haven’t!

Oh, only four more days until the lottery!