With several rival front offices privately charging an illegal side deal had been arranged to get Toronto’s Peja Stojakovic to the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA has held up a trade to send Mavs forward Alexis Ajinca to the Raptors, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Friday afternoon.

The Raptors agreed to a contract buyout with Stojakovic on Thursday that would allow the veteran forward to sign as a free agent once he cleared waivers. To create a roster spot for Stojakovic – who had almost immediately committed to the Mavericks – Dallas agreed to send the Raptors the 7-foot Ajinca, a future second-round pick and cash to Toronto for the rights to Georgios Printezis.

When reached by email on Friday, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban denied there had been an illegal prearranged deal.

Ajinca cleared the roster spot necessary for Stojakovic to sign with Dallas, but what’s considered against NBA rules would be a previously arranged buyout and promise to sign with Dallas coupled with Ajinca’s trade. Several other West contenders also were interested in signing Stojakovic.

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Whether true or not, Cuban should be smarter than to at least make it look like something fishy is going on...