Two weeks after Yahoo Sports reported that he will decline his $10.2 million option to remain a Maverick this upcoming season and instead explore free agency, Dwight Powell on Tuesday somewhat clarified his position.
"I did not have any conversation prior to that article coming out with whoever wrote it, so I don't know where their information came from," Powell told The News, after helping to dedicate a new Mavs Tech Center in East Dallas. "I did not have any conversation with anybody about that."
This doesn't mean 27-year-old Powell will, in fact, opt into the final season of the four-year deal he signed in 2016. In fact, there remains a good chance that he will not opt in.
Powell, however, has until June 29 to make that decision. Regardless, all signs point to Powell remaining a Maverick -- either by opting in and signing a multi-year extension; or by not opting in, becoming a free agent and still signing a multi-season Mavericks deal.
Even the initial Yahoo report, which stated that Powell would have multiple suitors and explore his options when free agency begins on June 30, was later amended to emphasize that his priority remaining a Maverick.
"There's no place I would rather be than Dallas," Powell said Tuesday. "I think I have done everything to show that I love it here. This team gave me my shot. They've treated me extremely well, as an athlete and as a man. I love the Dallas Mavericks."
Verbally, Powell can't be much more definitive than that, and if anything his actions since the season ended on April 10 have been even more emphatic.
In early May, Powell accompanied coach Rick Carlisle and Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley to Luka Doncic's hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia for a few days of bonding and workouts.
And here was Powell on Tuesday, in Mavericks practice gear, helping the Mavericks Foundation christen its 17th Reading & Learning Center in North Texas, along with the 24 basketball courts the foundation and Mavericks players have donated in recent years.
Tuesday's unveiling was in collaboration with CitySquare, which refurbished an abandoned elementary school on the northern fringe of Fair Park. Three-decade-old CitySquare fights the causes and effects of poverty through 22 programs that, among other services, feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless and renew hope.
Do Powell's words and actions of the past couple of months seem like those of a player who doesn't plan to be a Maverick come next month?
Powell described the Slovenian trip and workouts with Doncic as great experiences.
"His family welcomed me with open arms and tried to show us as much as they could," he said. "We were only there for a short time, but we got some good workouts in.
"Luka's looking good, so that's exciting."
Would Powell be so excited if he believed there was any chance he would have to face Doncic this upcoming season? Of course not.
It was difficult to determine which occurrence Tuesday had Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall beaming with pride:
--Formally dedicating the Mavs Tech Center, formally named the Fannie C. Harris Youth Drop In Center, which will serve former foster youth (ages 16-24) along with all homeless students in the Dallas Independent School District.
--And watching Stanford-product Powell easily interact with students as they tried Mavericks-donated technology, including computers, tablets, charging stations and storage devices.
At season's end, Powell was named one of 10 finalists for the NBA Cares Community Assist Award.
"He's amazing," Marshall said. "He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said, 'What else do you guys have in the community? You know I'm available. I want to be out.'
"To have somebody walk up to you, who's already doing a lot, to say 'I want to do even more' (is impressive). And to know that he is focused on more than basketball; he really wants to make a difference. He is making a difference in so many ways.
"I just think he's a wonderful young man and we have a lot more just like him."
Here's how perceptive Powell is: While he and a pair of Dallas Police Department officers played a pair of UNO games with students, Powell learned that one student has plans to go into psychology, another plans to attend plumbing school, another plans to go into law enforcement.
"These kids have plans and they have an objective," he said. "They want to give back, already. I think that's such a beautiful thing and so inspiring to me. That's what makes my job so great."
CitySquare president and Chief Operating Officer John Siburt became emotional while visualizing the future of the Fannie C Harris Youth Center, which will utilize a system called TRAC: Transition Resource Action Center.
Siburt said hundreds of homeless students now have a place to feel safe and cared for, a place with resources that will help students do their homework, look for employment and places to live.
"Our goal is to remove every barrier they face," he said. "We don't want poverty or homelessness to be a barrier to opportunity.
"The tools that are going to make that happen are being provided by the Dallas Maverick Foundation. So you can tell, it's youth-friendly, it's a great place to hang out, it's a safe space, you can get resources, it's a place where you can grab something to eat in our kitchen, there's showers, a place to do laundry.
"We plan to have countless wonderful stories of kids that, although they were homeless, got that diploma, got that education and found their pathway out of poverty. And they're going to say it's because of the Dallas Mavericks and that gift they gave to CitySquare."
During Powell's brief dedication-ceremony speech, you didn't have to listen very closely to deduce that he plans to be around to see community projects like this one and others in Dallas thrive in years to come.
Powell praised Sibert and CitySquare and those who will work in the Fannie C Harris Youth Center on a daily basis.
"The things we can do, we can stop in and we can help with great projects like this and we can support and find ways to lend a hand," Powell said of the Mavericks. "But the things you do on a day-to-day basis, that's what makes us proud to have 'Dallas' on our chest. That's what makes us proud to be Mavericks and to be able to find people in our community that are doing the things that you're doing."