While the Dallas Mavericks don’t intend to trade Daniel Gafford, according to recent reports, his name has been thrown into the rumblings of trade rumors. The club acquired him at the trade deadline a season ago, and he was essential in their run to the NBA Finals.

With his name being hot in trade rumors, Gafford made a statement on Monday. With a full slate of games being played all day, the Mavericks had an early contest against the Charlotte Hornets.

Dallas suffered a brutal 110-105 loss as the return of Luka Doncic can not come soon enough. Still, Gafford made a loud statement, scoring a career-high.

In 34 minutes played, Gafford scored 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting while pulling down 15 rebounds and blocking seven shots.

Simply put — the Mavericks center made a statement. He proved his value by posting a career-high in points scored, even if the team took a brutal loss.

Given the injury history of second-year center Dereck Lively, having a backup like Gafford capable of coming into the starting lineup and making such a massive impact would certainly have to make the Mavericks front office think twice about a trade.

For the time being — don’t expect a Gafford trade. His impact proved even further that it could be a mistake from the club, too.

However, given how much success the team has had with in-season moves in years past might lend a hand that they could be making a move.

READ MORE: Despite Loss to Hornets, Mavs Made Right Decision Letting Former First-Round Pick Go

Stick with MavericksGameday for more coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the NBA offseason. 

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The Blue Fish, a sushi restaurant that eventually grew to one of Dallas-Fort Worth’s biggest homegrown Japanese chains, has closed on Greenville Avenue in Dallas.

The restaurant opened at that spot in 1998, then as a sake bar modeled after the cool-kids spots from Los Angeles, The Dallas Morning News’ critic wrote a few months after its debut. Founders Julie Lee and her brother Alex Lee helped introduce Dallas audiences to sake — both the cloudy, unfiltered alcoholic drink as well as the hot, cheap stuff. (The Lees suggested drinking it cold, as experts still do, but a $1 deal on carafes of hot sake quickly made Blue Fish on Greenville Avenue a happy hour hot spot.)

The restaurant opened relatively early in Dallas’s relationship with raw-fish restaurants, and The Blue Fish served a mix of uncooked fish as well as hot dishes like edamame, teriyaki-sauced chicken breast and a shareable 2-pound fried catfish.

“The Blue Fish is quite a catch,” the late critic Dotty Griffith wrote in 1998.

The “hip Lower Greenville setting” earned The Blue Fish a spot on The News’ list of best new restaurants of 1998. A few others on that list remain open and are now stalwarts: Tei Tei Robata Bar, The Mercury and Al Biernat’s. Seems 1998 was quite a year in Dallas food.

The Blue Fish grew in North Texas, with restaurants on Greenville Avenue, on the Dallas North Tollway near Frankford Road, and in Irving, Carrollton and Allen. When I visited Breckenridge, Colorado, a few weeks ago, skiers wearing puffy coats and gloves made a steady entry into the Blue Fish there, a few blocks off of Main Street.

Today, two Blue Fish restaurants remain: in Allen and in Breckenridge. Those are owned by founder Julie Lee Osborn, who got married since she opened the original.

The other locations were sold in 2019, she confirmed.

For decades, Blue Fish had an iconic stainless steel interior and neon lights, a look called “techno-razzle” in a 2004 review. That was the era of tuna towers and raw yellowtail spiced with jalapeños.

By the 2020s, Japanese food in Dallas had changed dramatically. Omakase restaurants, or those with $165+ price tags and a fixed menu of a dozen courses or more, were starting to pop up. Case in point: By late 2024, just one restaurant in Dallas earned a Michelin star, and it was unaffiliated Japanese spot Tatsu.

The Blue Fish’s franchise owners opened a higher-end Japanese restaurant, Blue Maki in Carrollton, in 2023. The restaurant sells temaki, or handrolls, in addition to sashimi, crudo and rolls.

The Blue Fish, on the other hand, seemed emptier on Greenville Avenue in the past few years.

Representatives from the franchise company did not return an immediate request for comment on why the Greenville Avenue restaurant closed. The phone has been disconnected.

Founder Julie Lee Osborn said she has no relationship with the franchisees of the restaurant she started, but she has interest in taking over the lease from her original Blue Fish on Greenville Avenue. More to come on that.

The Blue Fish was at 3519 Greenville Ave., Dallas.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on X at @sblaskovich.

DALLAS — The Detroit Red Wings came up short on the road for the second time in as many nights, taking a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

“That’s a good team over there,” J.T. Compher said. “I thought they had good intensity to start the game, and we made a few mistakes that gave them a little bit of life. Stuff that we talked about before the game that we knew we needed to take care of, and in the second and third periods we did take care of it. But against good teams like that, when they make you pay, they get some confidence. It’s kind of hard to build your way back into the game.”

Goalie Alex Lyon made 22 saves for Red Wings (21-21-4; 46 points), while netminder Jake Oettinger turned away 33 shots for the Stars (29-16-1; 59 points).

“From our perspective, we looked at it from the defensive side and what we gave up,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “Some real egregious errors by individuals again, and the whole group pays the price for them.”

Dallas lit the lamp first, going up 1-0 at 5:26 of the opening frame. Justin Hryckowian’s shot from in front was stopped by Lyon, but Matej Blumel crashed to the paint and finished the rebound from the low slot.

The Stars struck twice more within a 1:13 span a few minutes after the halfway point of the first period to jump ahead 3-0. Jason Robertson scooped up a rebound at the edge of the crease before sending it into the back of the net for a power-play goal at 13:05, then Mavrik Bourque backhanded Ilya Lyubushkin’s pass from the bottom of the left face-off circle at 14:18.

“The tough thing for me is the start [of Sunday’s game] wasn’t that bad except for some individual errors,” McLellan said. “First goal, we’ve got the puck on our tape and, not even really getting forechecked, we turn it over. The second one, we’re on the penalty kill and the puck is bouncing, but boy it’d be hard to do that over again. Third one, a poor backcheck sort of.”

Detroit doubled up Dallas in shots, 14-7, in the scoreless second period.

Scoring Detroit’s lone goal of the night, Marco Kasper deflected a shot in the slot from Simon Edvinsson to make it 3-1 at 12:01 of the third period. Captain Dylan Larkin also received an assist on Kasper’s sixth goal of the season.

In his last six games, Kasper has recorded seven points (four goals, three assists).

“We’re getting a lot of shots,” Compher said. “We do that more, and [our shots are] going to turn into better opportunities and better chances to score.”

Wyatt Johnston found one more goal for the Stars at 14:09 of the third period, lifting a backhand past Lyon to make it 4-1.

“It’s difficult when you spot them a few,” Lyon said. “Honestly, I think we have the right mindset though, where we come out in the second and we just try to wipe away the first and keep going. The third, just try to get better as well. We just got to keep that moment-by-moment mentality and continue to try to improve.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will drop the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.