The assumption all along has been that Jason Kidd's home phone, cell phone, beeper, pager and Blackberry will all start ringing simultaneously at 12:01 a.m. on July 1. He won't have to look at his caller ID. He'll see area code 210 on most of them, or, perhaps, 340, the area code from the Virgin Islands.

The San Antonio Spurs have had Kidd in their crosshairs ever since they maneuvered to be in a position to sign him when Kidd, as expected, becomes a free agent this summer. It would unite the game's best point guard with the game's most fundamentally skilled power forward in Tim Duncan, and position the Spurs to be championship contenders for years. The two were teammates on the 1999 U.S. Olympic qualifying team in San Juan and they'll be teammates on the 2003 U.S. Olympic qualifying team in San Juan. This time around, however, they also might be more than just Olympic teammates. They might both be Spurs.

	Tony Parker could be trading places with Jason Kidd in New Jersey.

But here's the downside to such an acquisition, if there can be a downside when the acquisition is Jason Kidd. Most people who envision Kidd heading to the Spurs -- and you'd have to think he'd be nuts not to do it -- also envision that the cost for San Antonio will be the rapidly improving incumbent point guard it already has: 20-year-old Tony Parker.

No one would be crazy to suggest that the Spurs cross Kidd off their shopping list simply because Parker more than serves their needs. But given the way Parker has been playing lately, and with the Spurs also in need of size in the offseason, it's not like the franchise will sink into south Texas quicksand if Kidd stays put in New Jersey.

You could make a case right now that Parker is the second most indispensable player on the team after Duncan. He has taken on the scoring load now that Steve Smith opted for involuntary early retirement and David Robinson's back started acting up again. Parker was sixth on the team in scoring last year. He's second this year.

Parker was on a tear heading into big weekend, manhood-testing games against the Lakers in Los Angeles and the Kings in Sacramento. In the six prior games, all victories, Parker averaged 22 points and 8.2 assists in 38-plus minutes a game. He shot 54 percent from the field (including 9-of-18 on 3-pointers) and 84 percent from the line.

The Spurs are breathing down the necks of the Mavericks at the two-thirds point of the season. They're likely to get Speedy Claxton back for the weekend, although the Admiral is still in dry-dock. Duncan is again playing like an MVP. Parker has proven to be a more-than-capable second.

The play of the native Frenchman already is prompting people to see if there's some way that the Spurs could get Kidd and keep Parker, allowing coach Gregg Popovich to play them both in the backcourt. Kidd has played with point guards before (in Phoenix with Kevin Johnson and in the Olympics with Gary Payton.) San Antonio plans to have enough money to make a big free-agent hit (like Kidd) and maybe a secondary hit (like Michael Olowokandi), which would make the Spurs formidable for years to come. The attraction, of course, is Duncan, who is eligible for free agency himself. Once thought to be targeted again by Orlando, it's now an article of faith around the league that Duncan will remain where he is.

But could the Spurs sign Kidd and keep Parker? They could if Kidd was willing to sign for six years instead of seven, and if he was willing to take 10 percent pay increases instead of 12½ percent yearly increases. He'd be passing up around $20 million if he did that, and while he said over All-Star Weekend that money was "the least of my concerns," we all know better. Grant Hill could have taken a similar deal in Orlando, allowing the Magic to keep Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins. Can you see Orlando now with the menacing Wallace patrolling the paint? (Can you see Detroit without him?) In the end, the players always say it's not about the money and then take as much money as they can get.

	Parker right now is arguably the league's best bargain; he's in the second year of his rookie deal that pays him around $850,000. That's what happens when you're the 28th pick in the first round.

So if Kidd is like every other free agent, then the Spurs and Nets will have to arrange a sign-and-trade deal. Matching contract dollars won't be an issue because the Spurs will be under the cap by a long shot. Under this scenario, the Nets would re-sign Kidd to a seven-year, maximum deal and would receive Parker and maybe another body (Stephen Jackson, perhaps) in return. Parker right now is arguably the league's best bargain; he's in the second year of his rookie deal that pays him around $850,000. That's what happens when you're the 28th pick in the first round.

Parker understands the situation. Over All-Star Weekend, he was asked about the Spurs' rather transparent plan to sign Kidd.

"This is a business; you have to understand that," he told the San Antonio Express-News. "Jason Kidd is the best point guard in the league. Maybe the Spurs are going to take a shot at him. I don't know. We'll see how we do at the end of the season. If we win the title, or if I become a very good point guard ... it's hard to say. But, I don't mind if they talk about all these trades. It's kind of normal. The best point guard is available and they have all this money."

But if you're the Spurs, is Kidd your No. 1 priority now that you have an up-and-comer at the same position? Or do you shift gears to go after size like Olowokandi or Jermaine O'Neal? The lure of a Kidd-Duncan partnership, however, may be too appealing to pass up, even though Parker is nine years younger (Kidd turns 30 next month.) The Spurs would still have some money left to sign someone like Olowokandi, but not enough to pay him the maximum salary. But with Duncan and Kidd in place, why wouldn't Olowokandi want to join the Spurs instead of playing for loser teams in Denver or Miami?

If Kidd bolts, the big loser in this scenario is, of course, New Jersey. Kidd has spent the last two years making that franchise really relevant for the first time in its NBA incarnation. But it's still New Jersey. It's still a terrible arena where the fans don't come and Kidd is not an Easterner. He grew up out West. He went to college out West. San Antonio might not be West, but it's warm like the West and it has no Vince Lombardi rest areas.

Then again, the Nets would not lose out totally if the consolation prize was Parker. In five years, or maybe less, he might even be the better player. The way he has been going lately, whoever has him next season is going to be one lucky team. The kid can play.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.