The Kidd Bid? The Fit Is (Still) 3 Years, $10, 9 & 8 Mil

   It was on April 30 when DallasBasketball.com wrote that the Mavs would offer Jason Kidd a “three-year deal with annual salaries of $10M, $9M, $8M (with only half or less of the money guaranteed in Year 3.’’ Two months later, the NBA world is scrambling for the news and the numbers. … and there they are, as they were on April 30: The Mavs are talking with Kidd about exactly such a deal – and guided tours of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the burial place of Isiah Thomas’ career aren’t going to change that.

   Mavs owner Mark Cuban suggested today that he had a productive visit with Kidd in New York at the stroke of midnight.

   "It's up to us to work on the details,’’ Cuban said to ESPN, “but I'm very optimistic.''

    As he should be. Rules preclude the offer from being more than three years; the one-year MLE deals that the Knicks and others might offer will be worth a fourth of what Dallas can guarantee; the declines in salaries and the non-guaranteed final year allow Dallas to avoid losing an asset for nothing while at the same time retaining some financial elbow room as Kidd ages.

     The Knicks are aware of all this. Maybe that's why following their meeting with J-Kidd today, they didn't even make an offer.

    One NY paper characterized Cuban’s Big Apple visit as “desperate.’’ (Funny, nobody thinks Houston’s begging for fans to email Gortat is “desperate.’’) Many are criticizing Kidd for being greedy. (Funny, nobody I know ever turns down a chance to negotiate for more money.) Elsewhere, there are reports Kidd  “turned down’’ an offer from Cuban and other reports saying Kidd is “waiting to see who else the Mavs sign.’’

    Newsday pulled a “Dewey Beats Truman’’ here. It wrote on its website at 9:53 p.m. EDT that Kidd had turned down a deal. That was a full two hours and seven minutes before it would be legal for Cuban to make any proposal. … meaning it didn’t happen. … unless. …

   Cuban traveled to New York to visit with Kidd at midnight, issued an illegal proposal two hours prematurely, listened to Kidd spurn the illegal offer … and then either Cuban or Kidd ran to the bathroom to text New York Newsday to inform the paper of the conflicted shenanigans?

    All of this isn’t “turning down’’ and all of this isn’t “wait-and-see’’; it’s called “negotiating,’’ and because it cannot be announced until July 8, anyway, why shouldn’t Kidd and his agent engage in some back-and-forth, and why not let the Cavs or the Lakers buy them dinner? (Oh, and why not argue about $8 mil annually vs. $10 mil, and even about two years vs. three?)

     But the smart money still says – just like it did on April 30 – that it will be announced.

     And the smart money is on it being the same money we said it was. … back on April 30.