In nearly every NBA organization, there's someone who will leak - and that's part of why The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski is so crucial to follow for draft or trade news.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, though, had a plan to prevent the reporter from spoiling their draft pick Thursday: he threatened to fire any employee who leaked the team's intention to select Dennis Smith Jr. at No. 9, he told the Dallas News' Brad Townsend.
"The closer it gets to the (No. 9) pick, the more tense it became," Cuban said. "I said, 'OK, two things. One, when I'm on the phone, everybody shut up. Two, if this gets to Woj before our pick, whoever we find out did it is fired.'"
A Mavs staffer present in the draft room confirmed Cuban's story to Townsend, adding that the owner asked everyone in the room to lay their phones on the conference table as part of an effort to "give Woj a pump fake."
When commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the No. 8 pick for the New York Knicks, Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said the room erupted in "thunderous applause" - for landing the N.C. State point guard the Mavericks wanted, not for foiling Wojnarowski.
