Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Threatened Firings If Draft Pick Leaked

Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban "took no chances" when it came to the team's selection of N.C. State G Dennis Smith Jr. with the No. 9 overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. Cuban said of the draft room, "I said, 'OK, two things. One, when I'm on the phone, everybody shut up. Two, if this gets to (Adrian Wojnarowski) before our pick, whoever we find out did it is fired'" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/24). A look back at Wojnarowski's Twitter timeline shows he "tipped every lottery pick except for No. 1, No. 2 and No. 9." The first two picks were "somewhat obvious," while the Mavericks pick was the result of Cuban "practically locking his employees in a bunker" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/25).