The San Antonio Spurs have sent forward Malcolm Thomas to their D-League affiliate Austin Toros.

Thomas, a 6-9 forward, has seen action in three games for the Spurs this season, totaling 3 rebounds, 1 point and 1 assist in 15 minutes.

Thomas was signed by the Spurs on Jan. 11. Prior to joining the Silver and Black, Thomas played in six games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League, averaging 14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.67 blocks, 1.50 steals and 1.3 assists in 31.5 minutes.

This was the best move for Thomas. He had been pretty much riding the bench and not getting any playing time. Playing in Austin and learning more about the Spurs' system should do him and the team wonders. However, it does open up a spot on the bench should the Spurs be looking to fill it.

The Atlanta Hawks came into San Antonio last week with the third best record in the Eastern conference. They left San Antonio with a 22-point second half beat down as the Hawks’ best scorer, Joe Johnson, was held to 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

One of the main reason’s Johnson had a tough night against the Spurs? Well, emerging rookie Kawhi Leonard, whose sole purpose is to defend the opposing team's best perimeter scorer.

After last week's Hawks’ loss to the Spurs, I caught up with Atlanta’s head coach Larry Drew and asked him what he thought of the Spurs’ rookie after watching him play in person Wednesday.

“I like him. I like his size. I like his length. He looks very good, this is my first time seeing him face-to-face play,” said Drew, “He seems to be a pretty solid defensive player and I think he’s going to be a good pro.”

I also caught up with Hawks forward Marvin Williams, who scored eight points against the Spurs, and said he remembered Leonard from last year at San Diego State. no comments

The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks added another chapter to their storied rivalry yesterday as the Mavs won a thrilling overtime game 101-100. A stinging loss for Spurs fans to endure.

But to add insult to injury, the Mavs PR department decided to do their best to warn Mavs fans to not let their fans to grow up to be Spurs fans or see their grandchildren wear Spurs' dog collars.

OK Mavs, well played but you may have won the battle last night but the war is far from over.

To find out how the San Antonio Spurs almost made an improbable comeback from down 18-points at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, click here.

Room for Improvement

• The ghost of the bench in the first half: Where were they? They only made two points in the first half. Tiago Splitter, who had been dominating off the bench got in early foul trouble and Gary Neal, Danny Green, Cory Joseph, and Matt Bonner struggled to connect on any of their shots.

• Tony Parker, the team needed you: Parker finished with nine points and four assists, but his 2-of-11 shooting from the floor really hurt the Spurs. The main part of his off night was his decision to mainly shoot perimeter shots. In the first quarter, Parker was 1-of-3 and all of his shots were taken outside of the paint. In the second quarter, Parker was 1-of-5 and though four of his shots were taken from the paint, the only one he made was a three pointer. Parker was 0-for-2 in the third quarter and once again, all his shots were from beyond 10 feet. Parker's fellow Frenchmen Rodrigue Beabouis, 14 points and seven assists, also outplayed Parker. This was a game where the Spurs really could have benefited from a big game from Parker. To Parker’s credit, he has been carrying the team on his back since injured guard Manu Ginobili was injured.

• Richard Jefferson: Jefferson for two reasons: 1) He allowed Vince Carter to score 17 points in the first three quarters, mainly the first quarter where Carter had 10 points. 2) After scoring seven points early in the first quarter, Jefferson once again, was quiet to only score five points the rest of the way for his 12 points.

The San Antonio Spurs went into the half trailing 51-40 as the Dallas Mavericks lead had reached 15-points in the first half. The Spurs’ bench had been outscored 18-2.

The third quarter didn’t look much better as the Spurs fell as far behind as 18-points and then, with 2:44 remaining, Richard Jefferson was the last starter sent to the bench and a comeback began.

Five members of the Spurs came off the bench and fought back to force overtime as Gary Neal, Danny Green, James Anderson, Tiago Splitter, and Matt Bonner combined for 53 points from the third quarter to overtime, but their efforts still weren’t enough to help the Spurs get a win as the Mavericks defeated the Spurs 101-100 in overtime.

Dirk Nowtizki made his return after missing four straight games for the Mavericks, but Vince Carter was the man of the first quarter as Carter poured in 10 points to begin a 12-2 run for the Mavericks after the Spurs had begun the game on a 6-0 run. The Mavericks ended the first quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 24-18. no comments

Briefing Session

The San Antonio Spurs (12-8) continue to look to improve their road record (2-7) as they walk into the home of the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks today, after going cold in Minnesota on Friday.

The Spurs hold a 1-0 series lead thus far after stomping the Mavericks in San Antonio by 22-points on January 5, behind 17-points from Matt Bonner and 16-points from Richard Jefferson. The Spurs as a whole shot 16-of-33 from behind the arc in their first matchup against the Mavericks.

Case No. 21: Dallas Mavericks

Record: 12-8, Home: 8-3, Last 10 games: 7-3

Offense: The Mavericks average 93.1 points per game while shooting an average of 44% from the field.

Commendable areas for the Mavericks

It's a Texas-sized tussle tonight as old rivals once again face off as the San Antonio Spurs (12-8) take on the Dallas Mavericks (12-8) in Dallas.

Both teams are tied for first in the Southwest Division but both teams limp into this contest. Dallas' star Dirk Nowitzki has been out of action for conditioning while Jason Kidd is out of action due to an injured right calf. Delonte West will return for the Mavs tonight after fighting through a hamstring injury. For San Antonio, they are still without the services of Manu Ginobili (fractured hand), and T.J. Ford (hamstring).

Adding to the Spurs' woes is the fact this is a road game and the Spurs struggle away from the Alamo City. San Antonio is 2-7 on the road including a recent 79-87 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

So with first place in the division on the line tonight, here are five things to watch for tonight.

• Mavs may be seeking revenge tonight. The Spurs thrashed the Mavs 93-71 in San Antonio this season. The 22-point victory by the Spurs marks the Mavs' largest margin of defeat this season. Not to mention the Spurs have won the last two meetings versus the Mavs in Dallas.
• Contain Ian Mahinmi. When the ex-Spur scores 10 or more points, Dallas is 5-1.
• Dallas is quite good defensively. Dallas held opponents to under 100 points for 15 straight games from 12/30/11 to 1/23/12. Speaking of defense, Dallas allows 89.2 points per game (4th in the N.B.A.) and rank 3rd in the league in steals at 9.7.
• Watch out for the Mavs' bench. The Mavs are averaging a league-best 44.7 bench points per game this season.
• Spurs better be leading at halftime. Dallas is 10-1 when leading at the break and 1-0 when tied at the break.

Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki has missed the last three games due to conditioning. He missed Friday's game against the Jazz as planned, but now the Star-Telegram is reporting he may not be ready for Sunday's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

"I feel better," Nowitzki said. "I think it was definitely a good week for me to work on some stuff that I wasn't able to work on when I had some trouble with my knee. So that's definitely good. We lifted a lot, ran some, shot some. Well, we were always shooting for Sunday, so we'll just take it day by day and see how these next two days of training go and keep pushing myself, twice a day. But that's where my head is, hopefully Sunday, and we'll go from there."

The Mavs are 2-1 without Dirk in the line up, but there toughest game comes tonight against the Jazz.  If they lose that game and then play the Spurs without Dirk, they could lose any ground they gained over the last couple of weeks.  Bad for the Mavs, great for the Spurs. Stay tuned to Project Spurs for a preview of Sunday's pivotal Southwest Division match up.

Another Dallas player who seems likely to be in uniform this Sunday is Delonte West. West says he is planning to play against the Spurs tomorrow despite a nagging hamstring injury.

To read the game recap on how the San Antonio Spurs fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, click here. Here are a few areas where the Spurs struggled in their loss to the Wolves, but there were also some bright spots in the loss.

Room for Improvement

• Shot selection: In the third quarter, the Spurs struggled to score the ball and one reason was because of the amount of jump shots the team took while the Timberwolves used the paint. The Wolves were 8/10 from the paint for 16 points in the third. The Spurs were 3/8 from the paint with six points. The Spurs were out scored 50-26 overall in the paint. The Spurs’ final seven shots in the fourth quarter where all jump shots. Granted, on two occasions Richard Jefferson and Tim Duncan were open on the perimeter with the shots they missed. With the Spurs needing a three, Gary Neal hoisted a contested three out of a timeout and the ball clanked the rim, there wasn’t much Neal could do about the shot. The issue was that Tony Parker had seven points in the fourth quarter by attacking the paint early, that’s where he’s most lethal on offense. He began settling for jumpers toward the end of the game.

• Turnovers on the road: The Spurs did a better job of taking care of the ball overall Friday, but the team had three of their 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter, which killed their momentum on offense.

Hours after it was reported the San Antonio Spurs are interested in free agent forward Kenyon Martin, who is stuck in China waiting to be rescued by Jack Bauer, the Spurs may have a bigger target on their radar. ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting the New Orleans Hornets are actively shopping center Chris Kaman.

Stein reports that Kaman, who was not at New Orleans Arena for the Hornets' 93-67 victory over the Orlando Magic and has been informed by the team he will not dress while the team and Kaman's representation look for a trade partner for the center.

"We've informed Chris that we are looking into possible trades and he was understanding about the situation," Hornets GM Dell Demps said. "We're working together on this."

"Chris has been the ultimate professional since he joined us. In no way is this a disciplinary action. We had discussions about extending his current contract when he first came to the Hornets, but the organization decided to go in a different direction."

Once that news broke, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the Rockets, Pacers, Jazz and Spurs were among the teams interested in Kaman. Woj also tweeted that the Hornets had previously been asking for an expiring contract, a draft pick AND a young piece. I would think that at this point they'd be happy with getting one of two of pieces in return.

The Spurs have a draft pick they can give up. They also have young players they could part with. But the only expiring contract they have is a guy named Tim Duncan. Chris Kaman makes $14 million this season, so that further complicates finding a trade partner for the Hornets. As Project Spurs' resident ESPN Trade Machine wizard, I went ahead and plugged in some possible deals.

First things first, without involving a third team that had a ton of cap room, Richard Jefferson has to be involved in this deal. I know most Spurs fans would be completely OK with this, but the more important question is would New Orleans? With that in mind here's what I came up with: