As it turns out, Jason Kidd wasn't plotting an exit strategy at all when he had his rant in Salt Lake City 13 days ago.
The Nets had turned down Kidd's appeal for a contract extension just days before he made his bleak assertion about the team's future, according to three people close to the point guard who requested anonymity so as not to damage his relationship with the team.
The 13th-year pro, one of the great players of his generation, makes $19.7 million this season and $21.4 million next year, the final year of his deal, which makes him eligible for a one-year extension for the 2009-10 season - or a two-year extension, if he waits until this summer.
But Kidd would be 36 when that $24 million thank-you gift would kick in, so when agent Jeff Schwartz asked Team President Rod Thorn to discuss it, he was told it isn't in the cards.
That rejection, Kidd's associates say, was at the root of his frustration - though the team's play had a lot to do with it as well.