Editor's note: This post has been updated with new information.

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., league sources tell ESPN. Phoenix and Orlando have engaged in ongoing talks with Mavs. Smith Jr., has sat out three straight games with what team has termed a sore back. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 15, 2019

Early this morning, Smith "liked" a Slam Magazine Instagram post that detailed the reported interest in him from Orlando and Phoenix and a Mavericks source confirmed to The News that trade discussions have accelerated to the point that it would be a major surprise if a deal isn't struck. Smith also missed this morning's practice due to a stomach bug and will be listed as questionable for Wednesday's game vs. San Antonio.

The source emphasized that neither Smith nor his agent has asked for a trade, but "if something is out there, they wouldn't be opposed to it. I think this is kind of figuring out what the win-win is."

As for the reported interest of Orlando and Phoenix, the source said only half of that is interest. Orlando is heavily in the Smith acquisition mix. Phoenix is not.

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So what happened to the Smith-Mavericks marriage that began so promisingly after the Mavericks made him the No. 9 pick of the June 2017 draft?

NBA sources cite two factors: The swift ascendance of rookie Luka Doncic and quicker-than-expected trajectory change in the franchise's outlook. And, to a lesser degree, the continued butting of heads between Smith and coach Rick Carlisle about some of the second-year guard's on-court decision-making.

"On a scale of one-to-10, it's certainly not a zero," a Mavericks source said of the Carlisle-Smith element. "It not a zero with any player. But I wouldn't say it's a 10, either. It's a factor, but it's not something that can't be figured out if we end up moving forward with what we have, which is honestly what we want to do."

But when the New York Times last month reported that the consensus of general managers around the league was that Smith eventually would be dealt, the frequency of Smith-related phone calls from rival GMs to the Mavericks accelerated.

Smith and Doncic only have played together for 28 games. That hardly seems like ample time for the Mavericks to make a potential franchise-altering decision based on how well a 19-year-old and 21-year-old have or haven't meshed to date.

"It's not even about that," Cuban said Sunday, when asked by The News about the Smith trade rumors. "Dennis has just been hurt. Dennis is just disappointed because he's not been playing at his best. When you're hurt, it's hard to play at your best. People have an expectation of like, 'Dennis be Dennis.' Because we had all these high hopes."

Smith has missed the last three games due to what he and the franchise have described as mid-back tightness. Carlisle said Sunday that the hope is Smith can return to practice this week.

The rapidly ramped-up trade speculation, however, raises serious doubts about how smoothly he could be worked back into the playing rotation between now and the Feb. 7 NBA trade deadline.

"If you're even a casual fan, you can probably sense that this team has taken a whole different direction than last year," a team source said. "The reality is that we have two quarterbacks."

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And the reality is that while Smith and Doncic have become off-the-court friends, as have their girlfriends, Smith arrived in Dallas believing he would be the primary ball-handler -- and that was the case last season, when he averaged 15.2 points and 5.2 assists.

This season he is averaging 12.6 points and 3.9 assists, but his shooting percentage has dramatically risen from 39.5 percent last season to 43.5 percent this season.

Along with the recent back issues, Smith missed 11 games in November and December due to a right-wrist sprain and two games in October with a right-ankle sprain.

When the Mavericks lost veteran guard J.J. Barea for the season due an Achilles rupture last Friday at Minnesota, it left the Mavericks two point guards short.

Against Golden State on Sunday, though, the Mavericks led going into the final three minutes, with Doncic and rookie Jalen Brunson doing the bulk of the ballhandling.

When asked point-blank by The News about Smith trade rumors, Cuban said Sunday: "Teams are always talking. Especially now with J.J. down, we'll probably look at different options, but we're not making any effort to trade Dennis or trade anybody for that matter. We're just trying to get better and improve and see where it takes us."

Asked whether it was accurate to say the Mavericks would like to see Doncic and Smith get more time on the court together before making an evaluation, Cuban said:

"What we need is Luka is not going to guard 5-10 point guards. He's not going to guard Chris Paul. That's period, end of story.

"It's not just about offense. It's about defense, too. And Dennis is one of the fastest guys in the game. Luka getting rebounds or DJ getting rebounds and him [Smith] running out, that's worked for us. Dennis being off the ball and catching and shooting, his 3-point percentage on catch-and-shoot has gone through the roof. So they've benefited. It's just that Dennis hasn't been fully healthy."

"Defensively, he's had two of the biggest stops of the season for us, on Tobias Harris and Paul George. So defensively he's made huge strides. I don't think people realize that's a big impact."

It's doubtful that one game and less than 48 hours have dramatically altered the Mavericks' thinking. What's happened, a team source said, is that trade offers for Smith have escalated.

A Mavericks source says the franchise's hope when it drafted Doncic was that Doncic-Smith could blossom into a 21st-century version of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, the backcourt tandem that led the Detroit Pistons to NBA championships in 1989 and 1990.

The Mavericks source, though, compared Smith's situation this season to that of an only child who suddenly wakes up with a new sibling who's suddenly getting most of the attention.

The "sibling rivalry," the source said, mostly has had a positive effect in Smith improving his strength and conditioning and raising his shooting percentage.

"But it's not perfect," the source said. "It's not perfect for Dennis because ultimately he wants to have the ball in his hands. That's kind of the way he's been his entire life, so this whole thing has been an adjustment."

Now the Mavericks are looking for a win-win for Smith and the franchise. And the trade winds have escalated to hurricane force.

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