This past offseason a lot of teams in the NBA, especially the elite teams in the league, decided to makes some moves and add some players through free agency or via trade in order to compete with the best of the best.

The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers added Ron Artest into the mix giving them the much needed toughness they have sorely lack in the past. The San Antonio Spurs finally felt age creeping up on them and decided to bring in some young blood with the likes of Richard Jefferson coming to town. The Boston Celtics have also started to see the sand fall through the hour glass and went out and signed Rasheed Wallace.

Even the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic got involved by adding Shaq to play alongside LeBron James and Vince Carter to replace Hedo Turkoglu for the Eastern Conference champs.

The one team to fly under the radar this past offseason was the Dallas Mavericks who have had a good team over the past couple of seasons, but not good enough to compete with the likes of the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference.

In an attempt to keep up with the trades and upgrades to the best teams in the Western Conference, Mark Cuban went out and traded for Shawn Marion from the Toronto Raptors who has been bouncing around ever since he left the Phoenix Suns a few years ago.

Even though many people believed that the move to get Marion wasn’t the right one, the Dallas Mavericks have played brilliantly this season and haven’t looked back as the addition of Shawn Marion seems to be paying off.

With a 31-18 record so far this season and a first place standing the Southwest division just above the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavs are looking pretty good right now, but Mark Cuban thinks they can be even better as has said is open to certain trade possibilities after Dallas lost three straight games to the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers and the Utah Jazz.

The one player that seems to be on his way out, if the Mavs decided to make a trade before the deadline on February 18th, is small forward Josh Howard who has struggled this season since Shawn Marion came to town.

There are few possibilities for the Mavs with Josh Howard as a bargaining chip, with a trade involving the Sacramento Kings being the most likely. If a trade goes down between these two teams, the Kings would send scoring machine Kevin Martin to Dallas in exchange for Josh Howard.

Along with the Sacramento Kings, the Dallas Mavs might also consider a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers for Andre Igoudala or with the Houston Rockets for Tracy McGrady’s expiring contract.