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Trade for Kidd, if it happens, not likely before next week

By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News

PHOENIX – Jason Kidd may still wind up in Dallas.

But it won't be today.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban greeted questions about the trade that wasn't with the words, "nothing new to report." Officials with the Mavericks and New Jersey Nets either chose their words carefully or didn't say anything at all in the aftermath of the complex deal that hit an unexpected roadblock.

Devean George, the player in the eye of this storm, was in the starting lineup Thursday as the Mavericks faced the Phoenix Suns in the final game before the All-Star break. He spoke to TNT, but declined to speak to local reporters before the game about his decision to exercise a clause in his contract that allows him to stay with the Mavericks.

"There is nothing really new at this point," said Mark Bartelstein, who represents George.

"I mean, he will continue to contemplate and consider it [the trade]. But I don't want to paint the wrong picture. I don't know that he's looking for reasons to change his mind.

"Does that mean there is no way he will change his mind? I don't know. But as of right now, he just wants to focus on playing Phoenix."

If the Mavericks and New Jersey manage to complete this seven-player deal, with draft picks and money thrown in, it won't become official until next week. Cuban said a deal could be done over All-Star Weekend, if that's still possible. But since NBA officials are in New Orleans, no deal can be approved until they return to their New York offices Monday.

The trade deadline is six days away.

Bartelstein and George spent a significant part of Thursday on the phone. Bartelstein and the Mavericks' swingman also had conversations with officials for the Mavericks and Nets.

"I feel bad for Devean George," Cuban said. "I really, really do. I think he got thrown under the bus by his agent. I think he's a great, great, great, great guy."

George has been vilified in some quarters as the person who shot down a deal that would have sent him, Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager to New Jersey for Kidd and Malik Allen. The Mavericks were also prepared to send draft picks and cash to complete the deal.

George, however, has the right to decline a deal to protect his Larry Bird rights. Would Cuban, coach Avery Johnson or any other member of the organization ignore part of their contract simply to make someone else happy?

"That's the whole thing that nobody seems to get," Bartelstein said. "Devean is not doing anything to hold up the trade. He's not stopping the trade. He's not stopping Jason Kidd from coming to Dallas. He's making a decision that is best for him.

"Devean has a contractual right here, just like teams have the right to cut a player whenever they want, release a player whose kids are in school and the family has just settled into a new home. Teams hate doing it but sometimes – not sometimes, all of the time – they do what is best for the organization. They will trade fan favorites and mainstays and always say it's in the best interest of the organization.

"Devean has gotten the opportunity to make a good decision for himself," Bartelstein continued. "There is nothing to criticize. Those who make him out to be the villain are misplaced or wrong."

Those Bird rights give George leverage in free agency this summer he wouldn't have otherwise. It increases the options for a sign and trade and allows him to explore more possibilities that would be to his financial benefit.

"Without those tools, a free agent is left naked," Bartelstein said. "He has no choice. The only option is a mid-level exception, and a lot of teams are choosing not to use the mid-level to avoid the luxury tax."

The question is did the Mavericks simply assume George would go along with the deal since he had complained about playing time in recent weeks, or did they overlook his status?

Cuban said he thought he was doing right by George, who had expressed frustration with his status to the owner and Johnson in recent weeks.

"It's been a little bit of a roller coaster the last couple of months, with Devean saying he was unhappy, talking with Mark and Avery," Bartelstein said. "Avery told him to be patient that he would get his opportunity. The last couple of weeks he has gotten that opportunity, and things are fine.

"There is so much going on in this deal, so much to put together, that this was the last or next to the last piece. Sometimes, that's something you don't focus on until everything else is in order.

"I don't think anyone is at fault. But mechanically, everyone is hurt."

How George, the Mavericks and the Nets resolve that hurt remains a mystery.

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