Trade talk follows Dallas Mavericks to West Coast

The Dallas Mavericks got out of town Saturday evening, and the wild rumor of the day was that their plane to the Bay Area had been equipped with ejector seats.

The players, a few of them anyway, know they could be jettisoned at any moment. The Feb. 18 trade deadline is fast approaching, and with four losses in the last five games and a 9-10 record since Dec. 31, everybody is on edge.

Ask the players if they think they have what is needed in the locker room for success this season, and silence is the usual response. Or worse.

"I'm not looking for any help anywhere else but in this locker room," Dirk Nowitzki said after the most recent collapse, a 117-108 drop-kicking by Minnesota on Friday.

That was in response to a question about whether the Mavericks are good enough, as constituted, to get where they want to go this season – that is, positioned to challenge the Lakers. That seems laughable right now.

"That's not for me to decide," Nowitzki said. "I play hard every night. I just work here. But we showed it earlier in the season that we got what it takes. It's just that right now we're in a little funk, a little hole."

Which is getting bigger by the game. So the trade rumors are pouring in.

Several league insiders said Saturday that the Mavericks are heavily involved in talks with numerous teams.

As one source termed it, there are lots of flirtations but no marriage vows in sight.

Still, almost everybody connected with the league expects the Mavericks to make a deal before the deadline.

Most of the chatter centers on the Washington Wizards, who appear ready to clean house in the wake of the suspension of Gilbert Arenas.

Caron Butler, earning $9.8 million this season and under contract for one more year, is the primary name bandied about. The obvious fit, in terms of salary, would be to ship Josh Howard and his expiring contract, since it has a team option for next season.

The Wizards, Philadelphia, New Jersey and a few other teams are expected to try to cut payroll before the trade deadline. That could provide a fire sale for somebody who is lucky and savvy enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right assets to entice trade partners.

A lot depends on what the Mavericks feel they need. Is it an athletic swingman? Or is it another big body, like the Wizards' Brendan Haywood, who is in the final year of his contract at $6 million?

In Philadelphia, Andre Iguodala, Samuel Dalembert and Elton Brand all appear to be on the block, but all have long-term contracts that would clog the Mavericks' payroll for years to come.

If the Mavericks feel Iguodala puts them in the Lakers' elite neighborhood, great. If not, the financial burden would seem to outweigh the potential gain.

New Jersey doesn't have the marquee assets that Washington or Philadelphia does, but players like Courtney Lee might be easier to extract.

Detroit is rumored to have interest in unloading Tayshaun Prince. And with no hope of making the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons might make a player like Jason Maxiel available, too.

The only certainty is that speculation will continue to build over the next 11 days.

Players weigh in: By Shawn Marion's estimation, the Mavericks are no longer a smooth-running sports car. They're more like an old junker.

"It seems like every little thing is backfiring on us right now," he said. "We got to find a way to get out of this."

Marion and Jason Kidd have been the Mavericks' best defenders during their slump, but nobody has been able to stop opponents with any consistency.

"Everybody has their ups and downs," Marion said. "This is our down time right now. We just got to find a way to stay gritty and work our way out of it."

Added Nowitzki: "To let teams consistently shoot over 50 percent in your building is just not going to get it done."