Finally, The Mavericks get their man...again. The Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets were able to work out a trade that sent Jason Kidd, forward Malik Allen and guard Antoine Wright to Dallas for point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop and swingman Maurice Ager, plus retired forward Keith Van Horn and Trenton Hassell. New Jersey also gets two first-round draft picks and $3 million. Wow, I've never heard of a retired player getting traded. I know Dallas owns the rights to Van Horn because he never filed retirement papers but come on New Jersey...you must've really wanted to get rid of Kidd. Kidd is averaging 11.3 points, 10.3 assists and 8.1 rebounds. Devon Harris, the next most prominent player in the deal, is averaging 14.4 points and 5.3 assists. Kidd was the third overall pick by the Mavs in 1994 and he was the NBA's co-rookie of the year in 1994-95. He was traded to Phoenix in 1996, then went from the Suns to New Jersey before the 2001-02 season and he helped the Nets reach the NBA finals his first two seasons. This is obviously an effort to keep up with the Lakers and Suns, who pulled off similar trades in the last couple of weeks, when the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol and the Suns traded for an aging Shaquille O'Neal. In the original trade that involved Jerry Stackhouse and Devon George, I thought Dallas was giving up too much for Kidd, but now this trade actually favors Dallas. This maneuver means that Mavs owner Mark Cuban wants to win now. But Mark, giving up two first round draft picks? You already had a good team, I hope it works out for you. Dallas certainly has a history of dealing MVP caliber players. First big D traded away Kidd then they traded reining MVP Steve Nash to the Phoenix Suns. -John