GameFront is reporting (in German) that Nintendo has registered for a trademark for something called Mario Dunk Shot.  Could Mario be on his way back to the basketball court? 

Nintendo scheint an dem Spiel Mario Dunk Shot zu arbeiten. Das geht aus einem Markenschutzeintrag beim japanischen Patentamt hervor.

This kind of thing was bound to happen; Mario Baseball is on the way and the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf titles are already established.  Take basketball, bring in the Mushroom Kingdom cast of crazies, and toss in some power-up items.  Sometimes these games just trademark themselves.