NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Nets have agreed to trade Jason Kidd again. And this time, Devean George isn’t around to rain on the parade.

Days after a Kidd deal with Dallas went south because George vetoed a trade to the Nets, New Jersey is awaiting league approval on a deal with the Mavs that would send out Kidd and Malik Allen and return Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Trenton Hassell, Keith Van Horn, Maurice Ager, two first-round picks, and $3 million in cash. A side deal would send Antoine Wright to Dallas for a second-round pick in order to meet league roster requirements.

The trade wouldn’t be quite as good a deal as the original trade with Dallas, which had included Jerry Stackhouse and George instead of Hassell and Van Horn. Stackhouse had to be removed from the trade after the league had a problem with the appearance of a pre-arranged deal for Stackhouse to be bought out by the Nets, wait the mandatory 30 days, and then re-sign with Dallas. Hassell, though, has $2 million more in guaranteed money due him in 2008–09 than Stackhouse did, so the Nets won’t get as much cap savings as they’d hoped for.

And then there’s Van Horn, who started his career as a Nets player, and apparently will finish it as one. Signed-and-traded to the Nets for a $4 million payout, the league indicated it would scrutinize that aspect of the deal very closely — i.e., that Van Horn actually had to show up in New Jersey and suit up for the rest of the year. The hope is that the Nets could pay his money and immediately waive him (Van Horn hasn’t played in nearly two years and neither party had an interest in prolonging the inevitable), but it appears they’ll be required to partake in a two-month charade.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the math on the deal from New Jersey’s end. The prime lure in this trade is Harris, one of the league’s better young point guards and an elite defensive player. The other keeper is Diop, an offensive liability, but still one of the game’s top defensive centers — think of him as a better version of Jason Collins. He’s a free agent after the season, but the Nets would be in a strong position to re-sign him if he plays well the rest of the way.

Overall, my thoughts are similar to last week’s deal. Team president Rod Thorn will get a young star, a serviceable center, and two first-round picks out of the deal, and will be able to cut a bit of salary, too. The Kidd era was the best in this team’s NBA history. But both parties were clearly ready to move on, and this could be a fine way to do it. Now we’ll see if Vince Carter joins Kidd as an ex-Net by Thursday’s trade deadline.

Ironically, Kidd spent parts of Sunday’s All-Star Game defending Dallas’s Dirk Nowitzki in his last act as a member of the Eastern Conference. And at the end, he “Punk’d” his soon-to-be teammates, in-bounding the ball off Nowitzki’s legs to help run out the clock.

On to the rankings.

1. BOSTON CELTICS (41–9 ) (LW:1): Boston’s easy early schedule gets tough now. The Celtics are 16–0 against the West, but their slate this week includes road tilts against Denver, Golden State, Phoenix, and Portland.

2. DETROIT PISTONS (39–13) (2): Another Eastern power that’s headed out West — starting Sunday, they visit Phoenix, Denver, Utah, and the Clippers. I bet you ‘Sheed doesn’t shoot any left-handed 3-pointers on this trip.

3. UTAH JAZZ (34–19) (3): Deron Williams hasn’t been as good as Chris Paul, but he’s owned their rivalry head-to-head. Saturday was another notch in his belt: He beat Paul in the All-Star Skills competition by completing the course in a record 25.5 seconds.

4. LOS ANGELES LAKERS (35–17) (4): Kobe Bryant needs surgery on his right pinkie finger but is trying to play though it. That’s a mistake he’ll regret: He can’t win a title with a compromised digit on his shooting hand.

5. NEW ORLEANS HORNETS (36–15) (5): It was a fun weekend in the Big Easy, but one wishes a few more people had shown up. Call it the Anti-Vegas: At times, it seemed there were more cops than tourists.

6. SAN ANTONIO SPURS (34–17) (7): The team finished the Rodeo Road Trip at 5–4, even without Tony Parker, as Manu Ginobili blistered the Cavs for 46 last Wednesday. Tell me again why he didn’t make the All-Star team?

7. PHOENIX SUNS (37–16) (7): Shaq better be ready, because the schedule gets nasty. Of Phoenix’s final 29 opponents, 22 are over .500, and 19 are over by 10 games or more.

8. DALLAS MAVERICKS (35–18) (9): I’m not a big fan of the Kidd trade from their end, but one positive is that they may be able to use Jason Terry in the same backcourt more than they could with the smaller Harris.

9. HOUSTON ROCKETS (32–20) (11): Very quietly, Houston went 18–3 in the 21 games preceding the All-Star break. Rookies Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry have solidified an iffy bench.

10. TORONTO RAPTORS (28–23) (6): Defending champ Jason Kapono didn’t disappoint in the 3-point competition. He had the two highest scores of the night and set a record with his final round 25.

11. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (32–20) (13): Despite being 12 games over .500, the Warriors didn’t have a single representative during the All-Star weekend. At least they get some home cooking, though: Tonight at Utah is their only road game all month.

12. ORLANDO MAGIC (33–21) (10): “Superman” Dwight Howard starred in the best All-Star dunk contest in years, but his opener — an alley-oop off the back of the board — was the real jaw-dropper.

13. DENVER NUGGETS (32–20) (12): The Nuggets involving roughly half the league in the past few days as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches. They’re searching for a shooter, a point guard, and a wing defender.

14. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (29–23) (14): LeBron James had been lobbying hard to get Kidd, while the Cavs had been pushing to cut a deal for Mike Bibby. Now they’ve lost out on both of them.

15. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (23–30) (16): Suddenly, the smoking Sixers have won five straight, and their next two are against the T’wolves and the Knicks. All this makes the odds of an Andre Miller trade much lower than previously expected.

16. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (28–24) (15): In his first All-Star game, Brandon Roy was arguably the West’s best player with 18 points, nine boards, and five assists. But his team is riding a four-game losing streak.

17. WASHINGTON WIZARDS (24–26) (18): The team broke an eight-game slide on Antawn Jamison’s last-second tip-in to beat the Clippers. Better yet, tonight they get to play the Knicks.

18. ATLANTA HAWKS (21–28) (19): Saturday’s trade for Mike Bibby was huge because it answered their two main weaknesses: point guard and 3-point shooting. The bad news is that they start a five-game West Coast trip today.

19. NETS (23–30) (22): Harris has to ramp up quickly, as the Nets have key contests this week against their rivals in the playoff chase, with Chicago tomorrow and a weekend back-to-back against Indiana.

20. SACRAMENTO KINGS (23–28) (17): The trade of Mike Bibby for expiring contracts and a failed prospect (Shelden Williams) is the strongest sign yet that the Kings are serious about rebuilding. Ron Artest is next.

21. CHICAGO BULLS (21–31) (20): One still presumes that this gang can get its act together and make the playoffs, but the Bulls’ season as a whole has still been a crushing disappointment.

22. INDIANA PACERS (21–32) (21): Jermaine O’Neal trade rumors are spreading like wildfire, with the most prominent one having him coming to New Jersey in a swap for Carter.

23. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (17–33) (24): Despite injuries, they’re still spunky, winning three of seven on a two-week Eastern swing. But that may change if heady point guard Sam Cassell is traded this week, as many expect.

24. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (19–34) (26): It’s still hard to take their playoff odds seriously with such a daunting schedule ahead, but for now they’re managing to stay in the race.

25. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (10–41) (23): Gerald Green’s “cupcake” dunk was one of the most original the dunk contest has seen in years. Too bad about this team, though: They’ve dropped five straight.

26. KNICKS (15–37) (25): They lost nine of 10 and rumors have them shopping Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph to anyone who will return their calls. Just business as usual at MSG these days.

27. SEATTLE SUPERSONICS (13–38) (27): An unhappy Delonte West is the most likely Sonic to have a new home by Thursday. But Kurt Thomas, Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour, and Wally Szczerbiak all can be had.

28. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (14–38) (30): They traded Pau Gasol, but they’re not done dealing yet. Mike Miller and Kyle Lowry are two names being bandied about as Memphis continues to cut costs.

29. MILWAUKEE BUCKS (19–34) (29): Not only have they dropped four straight, but now we’re hearing about dissension in the locker room. The schedule doesn’t help either: This week, they play Detroit twice and Denver once.

30. MIAMI HEAT (9–42) (28): Dwyane Wade’s forgettable 2007–08 season continued in the Skills competition on Saturday, when a mannequin stole a ball from him.

jhollinger@nysun.com