Kristaps Porzingis is NOT being shipped out of Dallas under ANY circumstance ... so says Mark Cuban.
The Mavs owner forcefully shut down persistent rumors that Dallas is looking to move the 25-year-old ... despite only being in the 2nd year of a 5-year $158 million contract he signed in 2019.
There have been rumblings about the Mavs looking for a trade partner for the past month -- including an SNY report that Dallas has reached out to the Golden State Warriors to see if they were interested in a deal.
Cuban had denied the rumors back in February -- but the rumblings continued -- which led to Cuban slamming the door shut on a possible KP move during Tuesday's appearance on "Live with Kelly & Ryan."
Is Kristaps Porzingis leaving the Mavericks? @mcuban officially addresses the rumors #DallasMavericks pic.twitter.com/GyP1eGrDx9
— LIVEKellyRyan (@LiveKellyRyan) March 16, 2021
"We're not trading KP," Cuban said ... "KP's a star."
As Ryan Seacrest continued to probe, Cuban doubled down -- "It's not gonna happen, Ryan. You heard it here first. Definitely not gonna happen."
Porzingis missed the first 3 weeks of the NBA season while recovering from knee surgery -- and missed another 2 weeks last month with a back injury.
Despite the hiccups, KP is still a monster when he's on the court -- averaging 20.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
The Mavs are currently in 8th place in the Western Conference -- and clearly Cuban is hoping KP will keep them in the playoff hunt.
... at least, for now.