Every Tuesday, it's the same question. By now, it's almost reflex to ask: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

	It isn't Mario Lemieux -- instead, it's Mavs owner Mark Cuban donning a Penguins jersey.

So let's mix it up some. Take it up a notch. Stray from the routine and delve into the world of billionaires, since they're having all the NBA fun this offseason.

In this league, after all, everyone's a millionaire ... whether they want to be or not. Just look at the retiring Joe Kleine, who made an extra million last week because the Portland Trail Blazers had to write Kleine's name into the Dale Davis deal. Doesn't matter that Kleine, at 38, would rather broadcast Arkansas basketball than play in the big-time. Nor was anyone terribly bothered by the fact that Kleine got the extra cash without answering a single vexing question, without having to sit anywhere near Regis.

A billionaire, Portland's Paul Allen, needed to sign Kleine as a million-dollar makeweight, as a throw-in to satisfy salary-cap requirements. And so, another trade was made.

That's how it has been all summer. If it's not Allen and the Blazers, it's Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks. They're the two NBA owners most synonymous with opulence, and they seem intent on buying their way into every transaction that takes place.

Who else but a billionaire could underwrite the acquisitions of Shawn Kemp and Davis in a span of 24 hours? Who else but another billionaire, Senór Cuban, could pump $10.3 million in cash sweeteners into his first four NBA trades, one of them helping to bring down the four-way monster featuring Patrick Ewing, Vin Baker and Glen Rice?

It's tough to call it a trend, because Allen and Cuban are just about the only owners able (or is that willing?) to play the game. Trendy or not, though, you can't help but tune in, with these two tackling the science of roster reconstruction so differently than everyone else. Their shared thinking, in short: Get as many capable players as you can and worry about minutes and chemistry later.

The Blazers, to wit, have assembled one of the biggest, deepest front lines in history, hitching Kemp and Davis to Rasheed Wallace and Arvydas Sabonis. They're also still employing Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, Bonzi Wells, Damon Stoudamire and Greg Anthony. Perhaps they'll bring back Stacey Augmon and add Will Perdue. Does a team get any deeper?

	Davis

The Mavericks are trying to follow the same model. Cuban has been calling the Blazers his "poster child" since he gate-crashed the league in January, and now his roster runs two or three deep at every position. Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, Christian Laettner, Gary Trent and Steve Nash are the starters. Howard Eisley, Shawn Bradley, Greg Buckner and promising rookies Courtney Alexander and Etan Thomas are, for now, coming off the bench. Hubert Davis -- the league's leading three-point shooter and recent recipient of a four-year, $10 million contract -- is Dallas' sixth guard.

Now contrast those armies to what's happening in Los Angeles and Indiana, home to the NBA's two finalists. Both teams live in total fear of the forthcoming luxury tax, handcuffed by mandates from ownership that they can't go one dollar over the $55 million payroll range. That's why the Lakers still don't have a power forward, unless you count Robert Horry or Mark Madsen. That's why the Pacers now have three babies (Jermaine O'Neal, Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender) where they once fielded the doom-wreaking Davis brothers (Dale and Antonio).

Portland's Bob Whitsitt, who might have also added Derek Anderson if not for the San Antonio Spurs' intervention, attributes the spare-no-expense approach to "doing all we can while we're in that window" for winning a championship. As a result, with five players earning salaries of $10 million or more, early estimates have the Blazers carrying no less than an $85 million payroll for the 2000-01 season. And that could require Allen to cut a check of at least $30 million -- the entire value of Phil Jackson's five-year contract to coach the Lakers -- in luxury tax.

Cuban (surprise, surprise) is even more blunt. He has publicly and repeatedly scoffed at the notion he might be deterred by the dollar-for-dollar tax, which accounts for just one of his theories that rankles fellow owners. He has also openly criticized the "prom-night approach" employed by Orlando and Chicago, teams which hoarded cap room for the first free-agent frenzy of the new millennium ... only to miss in their respective bids to land the players they sought. Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady, obviously, isn't as fearsome a twosome as Hill and Tim Duncan. As for the Bulls' top recruits, Ron Mercer and Dragan Tarlac hardly rate a mention here.

	“	The Mavs have been down for so long, financially it's worth it to do whatever I can to get us into the playoffs. ”
		— Mark Cuban

Cuban's candor and coach/general manager Don Nelson's recent boast about getting "our greasy little hands" in breaking up the Ewing/Baker/Rice four-way should only continue to make the Mavericks unpopular with rival executives. But at the end of the day, with Cuban so readily armed with the maximum-allowable $3 million to add to every trade, the deals are still getting done.

"The Mavs have been down for so long, financially it's worth it to do whatever I can to get us into the playoffs," Cuban says. "Season-ticket sales, advertising sales and sponsors all will increase more than I could spend on players.

"The focus on the salary cap is way off-base," Cuban continued. "The goal is to add great players any way you can. It's far easier to have assets to trade than to try to get a free agent via cap room. ... (And) it's nice to be in a position where you look down your roster and see 12 guys who can play in an NBA game."

It must be pointed out, of course, that there were other winners this offseason. Miami and its billionaire boss Micky Arison -- much like the Mavericks -- sacrificed the cap space it was saving for next summer's shot at Sacramento's Chris Webber to anchor a sure thing now; Brian Grant along with Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason. San Antonio, meanwhile, might still qualify as the biggest benefactor of the summer shakeup because it retained Duncan and beat out the Blazers for Anderson.

It must also be said that the Blazers and Mavericks really haven't won anything yet. Portland is still reeling from the worst fourth-quarter choke in NBA playoff annals, blowing that 15-point lead over the Lakers in Game 7. And the Mavericks still possess the longest active postseason drought in the league -- 10 seasons and counting, dating all the way to 1990.

But ...

If Regis wants to throw out a question about the biggest threat to that would-be Lakers dynasty, billionaires should probably be your final answer. Portland's Allen has backed Buss and the Lakers into a corner, because even Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant need a little help, and Dallas' Cuban prevented LA from getting the power forward (Laettner) it so needed and craved.

Plus there's this scary caveat: Both of the billionaires are bound to keep making trades and absorbing exorbitant salaries until they get it right. Here's a stumper, Mr. Philbin: How many other teams will be willing to get drawn into that game show?

Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.