NEW: NBA Trade Deadline Tracker: What Does Rockets' 4-Way Blockbuster Mean to the Mavs?

DALLAS - We throw around the word "blockbuster'' quite a bit at the NBA Trade Deadline. But in terms of sheer size, this one certainly qualifies.

DallasBasketball.com's NBA Trade Deadline Tracker is here, constantly updated with Mavs info through Thursday's 2 p.m. CT deadline.

THE HOUSTON-CENTRIC BLOCKBUSTER: As far as Dallas Mavericks fans are concerned, this is a Houston-centric trade that also includes Minnesota and Atlanta and the Nuggets instead.

The terms, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Shams Charania of The Athletic, as near as we can figure them featuring all of the tentacles in one of the biggest (in terms of the 12 players involved) trades in league history.

What did the Rockets do? They lose Clint Capela, Nene, Gerald Green, 2020 Rockets first-round pick; they gain Robert Covington, Jordan Bell

What did the Timberwolves do? They lose Covington, Bell, Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh, Keita Bates-Diop; they gain Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt, Evan Turner, 2020 Nets first-round pick (lottery protected)

What did the Hawks do? They lose Evan Turner, 2020 Nets first-round pick (lottery protected); they gain Capela and Nene.

What did the Nuggets? They lose Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt; they gain Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh, Keita Bates-Diop, Gerald Green, 2020 Rockets first-round pick.

So, What Does Rockets' Four-Way Blockbuster Mean to the Mavs? It means they don't get Robert Covington but must play against him. It means they don't get Capela but don't really have to play against him.

Covington plus James Harden and Russell Westbrook create that "Interchangeable Man'' concept in Houston - the trendy thing to do. But it also arguably makes the Rockets "too small'' ... the 6-8 Jordan Bell might be the center.

Acknowledging that Houston could still make another move: Wouldn't you rather have your 7-3 Maverick than their 6-8 Rocket?

We believe the Rockets also did this deal to head in the direction of tucking their way under the lux-tax. And that's not a "winning-on-the-court'' move. So as Dallas and Houston elbow one another in the fifth and sixth slots in the West, the swap-out of Capela for Convington (and Bell) has not clearly made them substantially better off, in comparison to Dallas, than they were yesterday. And the window remains open for the Mavs to make a trade to further make that case. - Fish, 7:20 am, Feb. 5.

4-WAY BREWING: Woj says "Minnesota, Houston, and Atlanta are still engaged in talks on a three-team deal -- with no new progress in discussions on adding Golden State to deal, league sources tell ESPN. Talks remain fluid.'' Then shortly after reports, a fourth team is in. It's Denver. Not Dallas. So both Covington and Capela are going elsewhere. - Fish, 11 p.m., Feb 4.

LAVINE 'OFF-LIMITS: We have our pet "pipedream'' deal, wishing the Mavs to pursue Zach LaVine. But Marc Stein is killing our wishes. "The Bulls have naturally received trade feelers for Zach LaVine,'' Stein writes, "but "off-limits" was the description used by one source briefed on Chicago's thinking.'' Oh well. - Dalton Trigg, 5:15 p.m. Feb. 4.

DENNIS SMITH JR. BACK HOME? No, not this home. His actual home area in the Carolinas, where the Charlotte Hornets have reportedly had trade talks involving a number of names including Julius Randle, Terry Rozier, Malik Monk and our old friend Dennis Smith Jr.

According to a report from Ian Begley of SNY, the Knicks are considering a move of Randle for a guard because the roster has too many forwards - which makes it a Knicks-typical oddity that they would also discuss DSJ in the same breath, because, you know, he's a guard. - Fish, 1:19 p.m. Feb. 4.

IGGY AND MIAMI? The good people of Memphis are not pleased with Iguodala's stance ... but the good people of Miami are ready to welcome him aboard, according to Shams Charania of Stadium. Where is Dallas on this? Read on. - Fish, 1:19 p.m. Feb. 4.

MAVS AND CAPELA: Back in May, the Rockets were making "for-sale'' phone calls. A source told DBcom that the Mavs "loved the idea'' of Clint Capela playing center next to 7-3 Kristaps Porzingis.

What we kicked around at the time: With over $30 million in available cap space, Dallas has plenty of room to absorb large contracts. (The 6-foot-10 big man signed a five-year, $90 million deal as a restricted free agent before last season.) But obviously, the Mavs would like to have Capela as a secondary acquisition, not as one that blocks the signing of someone like Charlotte guard Kemba Walker.

The timing of such a trade, should Dallas pull it off, makes a difference; do a deal in June, and the compensation can be just about anything. It can be Jalen Brunson and/or Justin Jackson and/or an opted-in Dwight Powell and/or pick No. 37.

But looking at a more conventional path: A July trade would require Dallas to find $14 million of room to afford Capela while still having $30 mil-plus to give Kemba his max. Does it help to send Powell? Sure, but what is Houston's purpose in replacing a $14 mil Capela with a $10 mil Powell? (Furthermore, the Mavs love Powell and would like to keep playing nice with agent Jeff Schwartz.) Would Dallas need to do even more? Yes. In addition to the compensation to Houston, for the Mavs to acquire both Capela and a "big fish,'' they'd need to find a way to dump a Courtney Lee or (better) a Tim Hardaway Jr.

Dallas tried here but was unable to secure Capela (and obviously, unable to secure Kemba as well.)

Now comes a reboot, certainly from the Houston side. Rumors are everywhere placing Capela in the middle of a three-way deal that in some form would have Minnesota sending Robert Covington to the Rockets.

Two Dallas obstacles to getting involved here: We're told the Rockets would prefer to ship Capela out of the West (Boston? Atlanta?) and we're told the reason Dallas cooled on the once-hot idea of the Mavs themselves pursuing the 3-and-D Covington is that Minny wants two first-round picks for Covington. That particular price of poker is too high for the Mavs.

If the price becomes more reasonable? The Mavs have two guys in this conversation worth intercepting. - Fish, 7 a.m. Feb. 4.

COOLING ON IGGY? While there has been an update from Marc Stein on Dallas's fading interest in bothering with the Grizzlies on a deal for Andre Iguodala, it's a fact that the Mavericks had on the table - starting in July - a package of Courtney Lee's expiring contract and a second-round pick.

We're not thrilled about that pick being Golden State's 2020 selection. We'll assume that as much as any truly fading interest in the player himself, is the clog here. - Fish, 1 a.m., Feb 4.

IS LAVINE AVAILABLE? The word out of Chicago is that the answer is "yes.'' Now, everything we think we know about the Mavs deadline plans to this point has us believing that they’re looking for more of a defensive-minded wing, but couldn’t the case be made for adding a super-athletic, dynamic-scoring backcourt player to help take some pressure off of second-year star and MVP candidate Luka Doncic?

Read more here on how Dallas could structure an offer for Zach LaVine. -Dalton Trigg, 10 a.m., Feb 3.

'KICKING TIRES': With just five days remaining until the NBA trade deadline, that appears to be exactly what is happening, as Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News and Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer are reporting that the Dallas Mavericks are thinking about adding a wing defender.

More specifically, Townsend notes that Dallas has "kicked tires" on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Toronto Raptors' Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

Our analysis of the concept is here. - Dalton Trigg, 1 p.m., Feb 1.

FIREMAN DONNIE: "It’s like it’s a fireman’s existence,'' Mavs GM Donnie Nelson tells DBcom when speaking of the trade deadline. "You can go for a period where the bell doesn’t ring for a month, and then it rings three times in three minutes.”

(Our latest DBcom Mavs StepBack Pod is here.) - Dalton Trigg, 10 a.m., Jan 31.

MAVS OFFERS ON 2? The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor is reporting that Dallas has already made multiple unsuccessful offers to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Robert Covington (O’Connor also notes Mavs’ interest in OKC’s Danilo Gallinari as well) — and all of that can be considered smoke to a potential trade-deadline fire. - Dalton Trigg, 10 a.m., Jan. 31.

CAULEY-STEIN IS NO 'STEAL': I hope I’m TERRIBLY wrong and just a disgruntled girl from Sacramento who openly weeps with every Kings' loss and I hope Cauley-Stein thrives with a winning team that has a solid chance to get into the postseason. I hope he meshes well with Kristaps Porzingis, and when Luka Doncic returns from his ankle woes, I hope he wows the crowd when executing a brilliant lob from Luka Magic. I hope he stays awake for the entire game and protects the rim. I hope my feet eventually un-stick themselves and I’m able to back up and see Mark Cuban’s artwork for what it really is as a whole. I hope this really is a "steal-and-a-half'' and not a verbose spin.

But until I’m proved wrong, I’m going to let them wave their brushes. And I'm not going to judge it as a positive until the paint is dry. (Full "Paintings and Protestations'' on the WCS trade here.) - TJ Macias, 4 p.m., Jan. 31.

WHAT DALLAS SHOULD OFFER FOR ROCO: The Dallas Mavericks are among the teams being attached to a February trade-deadline deal involving Minnesota wing Robert Covington.

We've tried to make sense of the concept here. ... Our big push is that Minnesota is said to be in need of young point guard help, and the Mavs just happen to employ a good one in Jalen Brunson.

In fact, DBcom can be even more specific about what we think Dallas could/should pay: Brunson, Courtney Lee (and his money) and the valued Warriors second-round pick.- Fish, 10 a.m., Jan 17

LUKA'S PAL BOGDAN: Bogdan Bogdanovic comes up a lot at DBcom and for good reason. The Kings’ 27-year-old small forward, who just so happens to be really good friends with Luka Doncic, is averaging 14.5 points, 3.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds for Sacramento, while also shooting 38-percent from deep.

Bogdanovic is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, and he recently turned down the Kings' $51-million max extension offer because he knows he can get better offers in the offseason. Read more here on our Mavs connecting-the-dots process to Bogdan.) - Dalton Trigg, 11 a.m., Jan 7.