Of all the issues facing Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, president of Basketball operations Donnie Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle retaining guard Jason Kidd is the priority.
If Kidd leaves, the Mavericks will have to rebuild much of their team. But where would he go? Cleveland, Portland and the Los Angeles Lakers seem like the only teams besides the Mavericks that make sense for Kidd. You can eliminate everybody else because they either aren't any good, have no money or both.
That leaves either a sign-and-trade or the Mavericks re-signing Kidd.
Cleveland has no money to offer beyond the mid-level exception, which won't get Kidd's attention.
The Blazers have cash available, perhaps $9 million or so. And they have a young point guard, Jerryd Bayless, who would benefit greatly from Kidd's expertise. And yet, would Portland put Kidd any closer to a title? Not likely.
And if the Lakers win this year's title, why would they need to acquire Kidd, especially when, with no cap space, it would require them shipping a rotation player in exchange via a sign-and-trade?
"We definitely want to re-sign him," Cuban says. "But in order for him to be most effective, we need to add more scoring. That is going to be a priority for us, putting people who can score around Kidd to take the pressure off the guys we have now."
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