Denial is usually a decent sign that it is atleast being talked about.
Thorn dismisses
Kidd sign-&-trade
Jason Kidd practices golf swing as Mavs owner Mark Cuban looks on and speculation swirls over whether Net free agent will land in Dallas.
July 1 is still a week away but the Jason Kidd rumors have long been under way. On the Internet and on talk radio, there's speculation of Kidd going to Dallas or Sacramento in sign-and-trade deals.
Nets president Rod Thorn, though, says any sign-and-trade deal is news to him. As far as Thorn is concerned, signing and trading Kidd is not really an option. If anything, it's a last resort.
"It's not anything I'm going to do," Thorn said last night. "You can do it. (But) I am not interested in doing it. There will be a lot of rumors and innuendos in the next week or two until he makes his decision."
The latest rumor is Kidd going back to the team that drafted him - Dallas - in a sign-and-trade involving Steve Nash. Before that, there was Kidd to Sacramento for Mike Bibby and Hedo Turkoglu. Sacramento denied any such thinking. The Kings understand what Thorn is about to go through in the next couple of weeks. Two summers ago, Chris Webber was the game's most sought-after free agent and the Kings had no intention of doing any sort of sign-and-trade with Webber. Webber stayed for a Kings' ransom.
Now, Kidd is set to become a free agent on July 1. Yesterday, Kidd was in New York at a press conference with Mavs owner Mark Cuban benefiting the Fallen Patriot Fund for families of Americans lost in the war in Iraq. Kidd, who planned to meet with his agent Jeff Schwartz last night, joked with Cuban that the only place he is going to visit is Lake Tahoe, where a golf charity event for the fund will take place next month.
"It falls to winning," Kidd said. "I want to try to win a championship. You have an opportunity. You're not promised to get back. The big thing for me has been a chance to win. I want to win. We had a golden opportunity and we didn't get over the hump. It always hurts. We'll see what happens."
The Nets can pay Kidd the most money of any team thanks to the collective bargaining agreement, which allows them to give Kidd annual salary bumps of 12.5% as opposed to the 10% other teams like San Antonio can offer Kidd. Only San Antonio has the cap space and championship credentials to lure Kidd outright. Otherwise, if Kidd wants to join a championship contender and get paid the money he deserves, he'll have to leave Jersey via a sign-and-trade - something Thorn has no intentions of doing.
"For a sign-and-trade, the player and two teams have to be agreeable to it," Thorn said. "Why do that?"
LInk