Whether this is an arms race with West teams girding to face the new Laker Menace or everyone following each other like lemmings running into the sea, the process continued yesterday.

Twelve days after the Los Angeles Lakers got Pau Gasol and seven after the Phoenix Suns got Shaquille O'Neal, the Dallas Mavericks agreed to terms on a deal bringing back nine-time All-Star Jason Kidd, five weeks shy of his 35th birthday.

Like the Suns, the Mavericks would be trying to change a formula that worked for years — Dallas won 185 games the last three seasons, more than any other team — on the fly.

Not that this trade would be a stunner after the Lakers and Suns deals, with freewheeling Dallas owner Mark Cuban eager to pull off one of his own.

If this long-speculated-upon deal finally goes down, it will be more like "What kept you?"

The Mavericks would get Kidd, who'll turn 35 on March 23, and reserve forward Malik Allen.

The Nets agreed to take Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Devean George, Maurice Ager, two No. 1 picks and $3 million.

The Nets would have then bought out Stackhouse's contract and cut him, enabling him to re-sign with Dallas in 30 days.

However, George had a rare provision in his contract stipulating he had to consent to a trade and wouldn't.

"You don't want to stop teams from doing their business," George's agent, Mark Bartlestein, told The Associated Press, "but we don't feel like it makes sense at this time. He's starting right now, and things are going pretty good."

If Cuban were eager to make a big deal, by all indications he didn't want to make this one.

Miami President Pat Riley said last week that the first inquiry he got about O'Neal had come from Cuban. However, when the Suns found out O'Neal was available, they struck fast, to keep Cuban out of the bidding.

Speculation about Kidd going to Dallas for a package that included Harris, the Mavericks' point guard of the future; Stackhouse, a reliable scorer off the bench, and Diop, a useful big man, had been out there for weeks.

The Sporting News' Stan McNeal recently e-mailed Cuban, asking about a similar package.

Replied Cuban: "Step away from your crack dealer."

Going into more detail, and using better taste before Sunday's game in New Jersey, Cuban said, "For us to make the numbers work in a deal like that, we'd have to trade away half the team. We're not doing that so it just doesn't work. And we like our team. We've got a lot of room for improvement and we hope to get better. But right now, I just don't see anything happening."

Apparently, they ran out of room for improvement within 72 hours, after losing to the Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Mavericks had eased off by design, concerned that they burned themselves out last season. However, with four losses in seven games, including one to the Boston Celtics without Kevin Garnett and a 90-67 rout at the hands of the Detroit Pistons, they had eased off too much for Cuban's comfort.

Kidd is still considered one of the game's best playmakers, but it's easy to see why Cuban was uneasy with the price tag.

The 24-year-old Harris was one of Cuban's favorites.

Instead of a three-center rotation, the Mavericks would be down to Erick Dampier, who'd be on his own against Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and Andrew Bynum.

And, like Lakers owner Jerry Buss and Phoenix owner Robert Sarver, Cuban, who has spent lavishly for years, would be making another huge commitment.

With a $93 million payroll, the NBA's biggest, Cuban was already looking at $28 million in luxury tax this season.

However, he was set to drop to $65 million next season. Making this deal would mean assuming Kidd's contract, which has one more season left — at $21.4 million.

For Kidd, it would be a homecoming. The Mavericks drafted him in 1994 before trading him to Phoenix in 1996.

Traded to New Jersey in 2001, he led the Nets to back-to-back Finals appearances but became disenchanted as the team unraveled in recent seasons.

With their new package from Dallas, the Nets could start over.

For better or worse, so would the Mavericks.