The recent news of a potential Dennis Smith Jr. trade comes as a sudden event, given the Dallas Mavericks' constant raving during his rookie season. While point-guard needy teams like the Orlando Magic and the Phoenix Suns have reportedly engaged in talks with the Mavs, Smith's schism with head coach Rick Carlisle and the organization has been a direct byproduct of Luka Doncic's quick ascent into the role of franchise star.

Per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News:

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.”

It was only one season ago that Smith was labeled as the point guard of the future, something that might still be true, but the role of face of the franchise has quickly shifted in Doncic's favor.

The hope was that Smith would be eventually groomed into a legitimate point guard after spending only one season in North Carolina State and relying mostly on his athletic exploits. Yet, the Mavs have quickly accelerated into a potential playoff team under Doncic, making Smith take a major step back as a cog in the offense.

“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.”

If the Mavs indeed have two quarterbacks, it's evident that for Dallas, Doncic is the equivalent of Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott and Smith is Cooper Rush — something the team has made very evident by their usage rate and Carlisle's offensive scheme.