A general manager called the Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak recently.

Would they really trade Shaq?  Yes.

The price tag?  Two all-stars and a young player with potential.  

No thanks said this team's GM, who was not a Dallas front
office executive.  

It will take time for all the offers to come in, be processed, rejected (in almost all cases), and for the drama to play itself out.

But in the end, the Mavericks may not have to part with Dirk Nowitzki to land the most dominant big man in the history of basketball.

"All of these pie in the sky things are thrown out there, and that's exactly what they are," said Donnie Nelson, the Maverick president of basketball operations.

So Los Angeles wants two all-stars?  Antoine Walker and Steve Nash fit the bill.  

The longer this plays out, the better the chances are that Shaq's resolve to leave LA will become firmer, and then the less likely the Maverick package will have to include Dirk.