Old friend Chandler Parsons has been reduced from "desirable'' to "dumpable.'' So while the former Dallas Mavericks forward is the big name in the trade idea being floated about by the Memphis Grizzlies, he's the "ballast,'' not the "sweetener.''

And NBA sources tell me the Mavs are willing to take Parsons back in trade if Memphis is serious about sacrificing pick No. 4 overall in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Dallas "would look at taking on money in exchange for a top-10 pick,'' one source tells me.

This marks the continued pursuit by Dallas of adding to its draft-day ammo as the Mavs already hold pick No. 5.

Back-to-back selections at the top of this loaded NBA Draft? That's drool-worthy.

But that "taking on money'' part is not easy. The 29-year-old Parsons is just halfway through his four-year, $94.4-million contract, and he's owed $24.1 million this season and $25.1 million in 2019-20. So in a sense, the Mavs would be "paying'' $24 million for pick No. 4. (Plus whatever utility the oft-injured Parsons might offer.)

What would Dallas give in return? The Mavs' bidding would start with "future nothingness.'' But they might be badly outbid there. So the name Wesley Matthews might come up, and/or the name Dwight Powell. And Dallas can offer a future pick, obviously, maybe with protections.

Worth noting: here are some issues of logic that preclude some of this. For me, those issues start with the original story itself, via The Athletic’s Michael Scotto writing that the Grizzlies are “gauging the trade market on a package of Chandler Parsons and the No. 4 overall pick.” My dispute isn't with the author, but rather with whether Memphis might be more wise to simply try to get better faster by standing in and making the pick at 4. (My smart colleague Skin Wade agrees with me here, but was also the first person out there to suggest that Memphis might end up doing this.) But if they're truly interested in the final benefits of dumping and re-starting around high-priced vets (30-year-old Mike Conley and 33-year-old Marc Gasol)? The Mavs are willing to milk Parsons of whatever "utility'' might remain; once Dallas' golden boy, his time with the Grizzlies has been all about injuries that have limited him to just 70 games in two seasons as he's scoring output of 7.1 points per game while playing fewer than 20 minutes per.

Can Memphis get better offers than "a protected future pick''? I bet so. Can they get better than such a pick plus Matthews? Plus Powell? Those pieces help this work as a pre-Draft deal in a way that allows Memphis to "win'' its share of a deal (at least a little bit). As DBcom's DanSchwartzgan notes, Powell and Matthews help them on the court, they'd still have room under the lux tax (by DBcom calculations) to use the MLE to buy another player ... they'll rebound as a team ... and then Wes will be an expiring.

The big prize, though, is pick No. 4. The Mavs need to wrap their heads around losing Matthews and Powell (they aren't very comfortable with such head-wrapping) and see how much brighter the future can be with the back-to-back picks Nos. 4 and 5 being valued most of all.