Shareef Abdur-Rahim will know whether or not he will be a member of the New Jersey Nets at midnight on Tuesday night. That's when the Nets lose their $4.9 million trade exception, a key component of the sign-and-trade deal they worked out with the Trail Blazers for the 6-9 power forward.

"We're running out of time," Kidd said yesterday at Basketball City. "The one good thing is we've got to make a decision. I just hope it's the right decision."

That decision has become a gut-wrenching one for the Nets, who yesterday were reviewing the advice of three prominent orthopedic surgeons.

If they complete the deal with Portland, they owe Abdul-Rahim $38 million over six years. There are questions if his right knee, which has scar tissue dating to 1993 when he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, will become arthritic.

"The business always gets in the way of basketball," said Kidd, who pointed out the Nets wouldn't be in this crunch if not for the labor dispute.

"We went through this once before already. If it wasn't business, just strictly basketball, then this would be no issue. But the team has to protect itself. At the same time I think the two sides will find a happy medium.

"Hopefully [Abdur-Rahim] will put us in the elite," said Kidd. "We plan on competing as much as Miami and Detroit and Indiana. We would like to be mentioned in that group."

Instead of Abdur-Rahim, the Nets could turn their sights on Sacramento's Darius Songalia, Cleveland's DeSagana Diop, Miami's Malik Allen, Phoenix's Steven Hunter, or Brian Grant if the Lakers use their amnesty buyout.