Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is making headlines once again as he recently commented that he would trade for New York Knicks' rookie phenom Kristaps Porzingis "in a heartbeat" if given the opportunity to do so.

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle was also raving about the 20-year-old Latvian saying that he "can have the same impact as Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki", who changed how the game is played in the NBA as a 7-footer with unlimited range.

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"We would have traded up in a heartbeat to get that kid," said Cuban before the Mavs-Knicks game on Monday, according to the New York Post. "We loved him. Obviously, people are going to compare him to Dirk because that's what people like to do. When you're 7-foot-3, those three inches make a difference."

Dallas went on to win the game, 104-97, but the fourth overall pick of this year's draft outscored the NBA champion 28 to 25, shooting an incredible 13-of-18 from the field, in a game where they guarded each other most of the time.

"I'm a Porzingis fan. I've got my Russian insults all packaged up to starting screaming at him with my high school Russian. Porzingis is the real deal. He's got some s*t to him and that's different," Cuban added.

Bleacher Report noted that "Porzingis seems to improve with every game, exceeding expectations and silencing those who felt he was a project or a bust waiting to happen". Looking back, one may argue that he would have been a better pick for the Los Angeles Lakers at no. 2 instead of D'Angelo Russell.

In 23 games so far, Porzingis is averaging 14. 2 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game in a little over 27 minutes a night, numbers that could eventually go up at the end of the regular season as head coach Derek Fisher continues to put his trust on him. Those stats were unbelievable for a rookie, let alone for a young, skinny fella from Europe.

Nowitzki was also all praises about Porzingis, saying, "Every tall European now who comes over and can shoot is going to be compared to me, but he looks like he's for real. I mean, he's just 20 years old. He's got a lot of ways to go, but the upside this kid has is just tremendous."

The 2007 NBA MVP also said that Porzingis is "tougher and longer" than he was during his rookie season. The German recalled that he had a miserable time back then while the Latvian is a "rookie-of-the-year candidate" already. 

TagsNBA rumors, Kristaps Porziņģis, Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki