Jaden Hardy continues to save himself from becoming Mavericks' trade bait

In one of the most hectic games of the season so far, the Dallas Mavericks found a way to take down the Portland Trail Blazers by a score of 117-111 on Thursday night.

With the win, the Mavericks have now won two consecutive games and have seemingly found a flow on the floor without their two star players, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Dallas still stays at the fifth seed in the Western Conference, but now with a win on Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, they'd move into the fourth seed slot.

Jaden Hardy's recent performances are silencing trade speculation

One of the biggest reasons the Mavericks have been able to stack up wins this week was because of young guard Jaden Hardy.

In the win against the Trail Blazers, Hardy hit four 3-pointers and had 18 points by the time halftime rolled around. Hardy would finish the game with 25 points (team-high) and shot an impressive 10-18 from the floor. The young guard also had the second-highest plus-minus for Dallas, with a +13.

Hardy has been one of the players on the Mavericks roster that fans have urged to consider trading in a package deal for a potential upgrade, but it seems like that might not be the case anymore as he is playing outstandingly as of late.

In these past two victories for Dallas, Hardy has shown that he can go on quick scoring runs by himself that can shift the whole momentum of the game. Against the Lakers on Tuesday night, he had hit three consecutive threes in the second half, which was one of the main reasons Dallas was able to pull off the upset win.

There was a similar moment in the second quarter of the game against the Trail Blazers, where Hardy knocked down three triples within a three-minute span. Before that, the Mavericks had one of their ugliest first quarters of the season. So what did Hardy do? Once again, he shifted the momentum.

Hardy's ability to be one of the best catch-and-shoot players in the NBA is something Dallas will need to use down the line if they want to make another run to the Finals.

In order for the young guard to be trusted in big time moments though, he will have to continue to improve on his pace, not lose the ball when he attacks the basket, and find a way to stay consistent.

Hardy is only averaging 1.3 assists per game, but what makes it even worse is that in his average time of 15.4 minutes of being on the floor, he's averaging 1.4 turnovers per game as well. If he wants Jason Kidd's trust and wants to continue to have consistent playing time once guards like Doncic, Irving, and Dante Exum return, he will have to improve on upping the assists and lowering the turnovers.

In his last five games, he's averaging 16.6 points, 2.4 assists, and 1.8 rebounds per game. Hardy is also shooting an absurd 55.6 percent from behind the arc on 5.4 attempts per game.

The potential for Hardy is through the roof and if he can continue to shoot the ball at an efficient rate, expect for him to stick in this Mavericks rotation for the remainder of the season.