Kidd trade isn’t likely

You can just see it now: Jason Kidd raises the All-Star MVP trophy above his head and the camera zooms in for a closeup, like one of those “Going to Disney World” moments that Super Bowl MVPs experience.

Except Kidd’s answer to the question of what he’s doing next will be, “I’m going back to East Rutherford.”

With two significant snags holding up the blockbuster trade that would send Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks, there was growing pessimism Saturday that the deal will get done before Thursday’s trading deadline.

There’s always hope when both sides in a trade desperately want it to happen, as is the case here. But if Kidd gets stuck in New Jersey against his will for the rest of the season, it’s going to make for some pretty long migraines.

Kidd probably will want to text the Nets’ trainer and say he’s locking himself in a dark room until April or so.

The seven-player trade consummated Wednesday and derailed by complications involving the Mavericks’ Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse is a sign that NBA players have become too powerful for their own good.

NFL players, whose union is about as firm as overcooked spaghetti, have contracts that aren’t guaranteed. When they’re Kidd’s age, they typically get cut instead of traded to a championship contender. But while NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter has been known to say some stupid things from time to time, he’s obviously not as naive as he seems.

George’s claim to fame is that he was the fifth starter on the Lakers team that lost to the Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals — the others being Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. He’s an overpaid role player making $2.4 million who has never averaged 10 points a game in his career. He’s started three games this season, averaging 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds.

But George is fortunate to be a dues-paying member of a players’ union second only to baseball in terms of clout. (Remember: This is the same union that helped create a system that allows Stephon Marbury to make $20 million a year.)

A provision negotiated into the collective-bargaining agreement allows a player on a one-year contract such as George to reject a trade in order to retain his “early Bird” rights as a free agent.

If George agreed to the trade, he’d lose the ability to be included in sign-and-trades this summer and wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the clause that would guarantee him 175 percent of his 2007-08 salary if his current team decided to re-sign him.

Basically, it’s about the money, and I don’t blame George one bit. He turns 31 in August and is going to get one, maybe two more contracts in his career. Imagine having to cram your lifetime earnings into eight or 10 years. It sounds selfish, but it’s really not. These are the rules of the game, and George and his straight-shooting agent, Mark Bartelstein, are merely playing by them.

But every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So what’s good for George is bad for Kidd, who will be miserable if Rod Thorn and Mark Cuban can’t resurrect this trade.

The other interesting factor is Stackhouse’s role. Although league officials Saturday disputed reports that the NBA planned to block Stackhouse from re-signing with the Mavericks if he were included in the Kidd deal and bought out, it’s hard to ignore this obvious attempt to subvert league trade rules.

Although officials with both teams have denied they had a side deal with Stackhouse, it’s clear that his $6.75 million expiring contract was the only reason he was included in the deal. Money and contract length usually are the only reasons NBA trades are made.

“It’s economics, which is what we major in,” Cuban said. “If it’s an economics deal, then we’re fine. If it’s a player deal, then it’s more difficult.”

Economics helped Kidd become wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Now the economic complications of making trades in the NBA could get Kidd stuck in New Jersey for the foreseeable future. It’s enough to give an All-Star a headache.