The man who recently swore Dallas was not shopping for a point guard now insists on his blog that the Mavericks have never once considered shopping Dirk Nowitzki, no matter what Peter Vecsey might have reported in yesterday's New York Post. Cuban writes:

Even in the Nellie years where we discussed trading every other player on the roster, Dirk was never mentioned. There has never been a discussion of trading Dirk during my tenure, EVER. Vescey's source is an out and out liar.

The thing about dealing with the media in this business is that they thrive on rumors and get bored with reality.

And the thing about dealing with Mark Cuban is that he will say whatever suits the Mavericks, regardless of its correlation to the truth.

That's fine -- he's a business man first. But as a known media tactician, Cuban has an impaired ability to "set the record straight."

It's hard for me to believe the Mavericks haven't received offers for one of the best players in the league. We hear all the time that at some level teams feel out the market for practically every player in the league. And if you were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round as a top seed with high payroll, it would be irresponsible not to know what your plans B, C, and D looked like.

For instance, could you have gotten Kevin Garnett for Dirk Nowitzki? What about Dwight Howard or LeBron James? I realize I'm shooting the moon here, but those are questions the Mavericks have to be able to answer, and the only way to do so is by having the kinds of discussions Cuban swears never happened.

Maybe he's telling the truth. I admire the strong and classy relationship he has with his star. It's possible all such talk was banned. But I'm not taking Cuban's word for it. In this same blog entry he points out that it's part of his job to protect people like Nowitzki from harmful rumors. That line rings especially true.