With a recent rumor breathing life into the possibility that the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons could re-examine a trade centered around veteran sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic, Tim Cato of The Athletic has added fuel to the fire, saying that “late last week, multiple league sources said that the Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons renewed conversations about a Bojan Bogdanović trade.”

The Mavs “had previously considered trading for Bogdanović at last season’s deadline,” Cato adds, “but Detroit’s asking price of a first-round pick was considered too high for the Dallas front office.” To that point, the Mavs are “incredibly cautious to trade [their] 2027 first-round pick…which the team could not put typical protections due to the first-rounders which it owes.”

Nonetheless, trade talks between the Mavs and Pistons had progressed far enough for there to be a basic framework for the deal. Bogdanovic and point guard Killian Hayes were set to head to Dallas while veterans Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee would have been headed to Detroit.

Although there may have been more players or assets necessary to make the deal work, “it’s unclear what else would have been required from each party to expand it to a four-team deal and what ultimately caused those talks, however serious, to stall.”

Don't hold your breath

For what it's worth, a base framework that only includes the aforementioned players — Killian Hayes, Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee — works out salary-wise for the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons.

However, as teams are known to often accept a young player in lieu of a first-round pick, the rebuilding Pistons could have asked for one of Josh Green or Jaden Hardy in trade talks. Like other teams that are rumored to have inquired about Dallas's young guards, Detroit is likely to be rebuffed, their advances hitting a wall not made of stone but of reinforced steel.

That being said, a four-team trade usually doesn't come together quickly, even if a basic framework is agreed upon by the Mavs and Pistons.

Consequently, Mavs fans may find themselves waiting the entire summer for Dallas to actually land Bogdanovic in a deal.