The Dallas Mavericks were intent on upgrading at power forward prior to the trade deadline. They ended up pulling the trigger on the trade that brought PJ Washington to town from the Charlotte Hornets, but as per the rumor mill, Washington was only the Mavericks' Plan B. Their initial target was Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, who ended up staying in D.C. amid all the trade hullabaloo.

Kuzma, in an interview with Josh Robbins of The Athletic, revealed that the Mavericks' interest, indeed, was concrete. But in the end, when given the choice by Wizards president of basketball operations Michael Winger, the 28-year old forward decided to stay in the nation's capital as he thinks there is unfinished business for him to tend to.

“There was a point in time, Dallas, they definitely did want me,” said. “Winger presented me with what the trade was and obviously didn’t want to trade me and kind of left the decision up to me a little bit and asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to stay and continue to build something. And that was kind of the end of it.”

But beyond wanting to “build something”, Kyle Kuzma also had another reason for rebuffing the Mavericks' overtures. Kuzma then explained that he wanted to run with a team that is on the precipice of winning a title, having tasted a championship in the past, and he feels like the Mavs aren't the right team that would allow him to fulfill his ambitions.

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“In my career, I won a championship. So, I understand that when we play this game of basketball it’s not about contending for a playoff spot. It’s about contending for an NBA championship. There’s only like three or four contenders — true contenders. I just felt like our timelines didn’t line up,” Kuzma added.

It's certainly interesting that Kyle Kuzma would rather stay with the Wizards rather than be part of a winning team like the Mavericks and play with a true superstar like Luka Doncic. But there's no price to put on true contentment and perhaps the 28-year old feels like he's happy with where he currently is in his career. That is a respectable choice.