Tall Black forward Sean Marks has secured his place in the NBA for another year, signing a $1.2 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs for 2004/05.

Marks (28), the first Kiwi to play in the world's premier league after being drafted from the University of California-Berkeley in 1998, spent most of last season behind the Spurs bench on the team's injured reserve.

Nevertheless, he enjoyed the experience with the 2002/03 champions, practicing against international megastars like Tim Duncan (US), Emmanuel Ginobili (Argentina), Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey) and Tony Parker (France).

And club management obviously liked the energy he brought to the practice floor.

In the wake of the mass exodus going on in New Jersey, vacationing point guard Jason Kidd has let it be known through the grapevine that he'd have no problem with the Nets exiling him to the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs or Dallas Mavericks. The Nets, opting not to match the Denver Nuggets' massive offer to Kenyon Martin, are in a "re-loading" stage, also having jettisoned longtime starting shooting guard Kerry Kittles in a cap-cutting trade to the Los Angeles Clippers and reportedly asking injured center Alonzo Mourning to shelve any idea of a return.

The Spurs aren't expected to have the financial flexibility to trade for Kidd, who nearly signed outright with the club last summer as a free agent. New deals for forward Tim Duncan, guards Brent Barry and Manu Ginobili and center Rasho Nesterovic make money tough to come by.

The Lakers don't appear interested in taking on Kidd's contract, which would impair their cap for many more years when coupled with the contract Kobe Bryant just signed.

Kidd's best bet may be the Mavericks, where he started his career, but owner Mark Cuban's hesitancy to top incumbent Steve Nash's $36 million offer from the Phoenix Suns makes absorbing the five years and $90 million left owed Kidd, recovering from knee surgery, a long shot.

CORDOBA, Argentina - For many NBA players, the summer months provide time to recover from a grueling schedule and get ready for the upcoming season. Not Manu Ginobili.

In the space of three weeks, Argentina's biggest basketball star has gotten married, signed a 6-year, $52 million contract to stay with the San Antonio Spurs and started training hard amid hopes of leading his country to a medal at the Athens Olympics.

He's still taking some time out to celebrate his 27th birthday on Wednesday, sort of. He has to gobble down his cake just as Argentina begins a pre-Olympic tour of Europe.

With the Olympics set to begin Aug. 13, the 6-foot-6 guard said he looks forward to getting a chance to play, and beat, Spurs teammate Tim Duncan and the rest of the U.S. team.

"Silver is what were are going for, but if we are playing in the finals we are going to go with everything we have," said Ginobili, a key member of San Antonio's 2003 championship team as a rookie.

"Our goal is to beat everyone we come up against," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"The U.S. and other teams know what we're capable of," he said. "We shouldn't come home empty-handed."

Minnesota executive Kevin McHale has gone on record stating that all indications show that Karl Malone will sign with the Miami Heat.  He was actively courting the heroic power forward and now appears to be moving on.  

The San Antonio Spurs however, do not think that the Mailman contest is over, as they are continuing their pursuit.  San Antonio is a proven NBA Champion and Malone has made no secret that he continues to play for one reason, other than breaking the scoring record, and that is to win a ring.

David Bluthenthal, the 6-7 American-Israeli Small Forward from Maccabi Tel Aviv has been approached by the Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs according to an interview with the player himself on YNet, one of the top internet sites in Israel.  

Bluthenthal says that several teams have contacted his agent Michael Siegel about their interest in his services for next year, including the Spurs, Kings and Dynamo Moscow, the free spending Russian team that has signed Lynn Greer, Ariel McDonald, Maurice Evans, Mirsad Tuckcan and others this summer with their brand new ten million dollar budget.

Bluthenthal is coming off an excellent summer league campaign in the Southern California Summer Pro League where he averaged 19 points, 5 rebounds and 2.5 steals on 54% shooting from behind the arc with the Sacramento Kings. He says he will wait for more offers this upcoming week from various teams before deciding on a final destination. He would not rule out returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv at this point.

Bluthenthal was identified as one of the top overseas free agents on the market 3 weeks ago by RealGM affiliate DraftCity.com. While he looked like the biggest longshot of anyone on that list to make the NBA this summer, he could be the first and possibly only one to actually make it (Andres Nocioni is still working on his buyout from his contract with TAU Vitoria in order to sign with Chicago).

Here is what DraftCity had to say about him:

Bluthenthal is yet another Maccabi player who has a chance at being signed by an NBA team for next season. He will be playing with the Sacramento Kings summer league and has an outside chance of actually making the team considering the Kings? offense and style of play and the fact that they don?t have a backup small forward. He might even remind them a little of Jim Jackson (today?s version). Unlike Anthony Parker, Bluthenthal actually has a great skill that can be counted on consistently off the bench?he is a tremendous outside shooter--he?s very pure--and he showed that especially well during the final four in Tel Aviv, where he hit 4 threes in 16 minutes off the bench in the final game to finish with 20 points for the game. He isn?t the quickest, most athletic player in Europe right now, and probably lacks the ball-handling skills and explosiveness to be able to create his own shot, but if a team is looking for a smart player who can rebound, post up his man in the paint and flat out shoot the ball, Bluthenthal might be their guy.

Stephen Jackson was very relieved when he finally signed a six-year, $38 million contract in a sign-and-trade deal that sent him to Indiana.

Jackson's agent Dan Fegan was heavily criticized when Jackson declined a multi-year deal from the San Antonio Spurs before last season and took a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks.

"In some respects it was a really difficult decision because it was met with such widespread criticism," Fegan said.  "When you have the confidence in your own abilities and the confidence in your client's abilities, you can make it work."

Instead of firing Fegan as many wanted him to, Jackson stuck with his agent, finished the season on fire and signed the big contract to play in Indiana where he always wanted to be.

"There was some friction" - with Jackson - "but one of the truly amazing things about Steve is his resiliency. He's able to just bounce back. He handles adversity better than any person that I've just about ever met. He almost thrives on it in ways you can't teach people."

The Spurs may bring David Robinson back to San Antonio as an investor in the team.

Robinson would acquire a 1.88 percent share in the franchise from former president and chief executive officer Jack Diller, two sources familiar with the discussions told the San Antonio Express-News.

The Spurs would support the move but Robinson would not have an active role in managing the team.

Robinson is the Spurs' all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and games played.

'The Spurs are apparently in negotiations to bring The Admiral back to San Antonio -- as an investor.'

David Robinson, 14 year center for the Spurs, is moving towards purchasing a 1.88 percent share in the franchise from former president and chief executive officer Jack Diller.

'One ownership source told the paper for Sunday's editions the Spurs would support the move, as it would allow the franchise to stay connected to one of its biggest stars. But Robinson is not expected to have an active role with the Spurs.'

Robinson led the Spurs to 2 rings and holds the team records for scoring and rebounding.

'Spurs chairman Peter Holt, who, with his wife Julianna, owns the largest share of the franchise (about 32 percent), declined comment to the paper through a team spokesman.'

'According to the Express-News report, his share could be worth more than $5 million. In February, Forbes magazine listed the Spurs' worth at $283 million, the eighth-highest in the NBA.'

The San Antonio Spurs signed first round draft choice G Beno Udrih to a standard rookie-scale three-year contract today, the team announced. Terms of the deal were not released.

The Slovenian native was drafted 28th overall by San Antonio.  He is expected to back up starting point guard Tony Parker.

The Spurs also announced they have agreed to terms with second round draft choice guard Romain Sato. The 6'5" 205-pound Xavier graduate was selected 52nd overall by the Spurs. Terms of his contract were not released.

The Spurs still have not agreed to terms with second round draft choices forward Viktor Sanikidze and center Sergei Kaurulov.

According to sources in Israel, Beno Udrih's buyout from Maccabi Tel Aviv has been completed and he is now in the process of negotiating his three year rookie contract for next year. The buyout sum was being negotiated over the past week and was finalized at 350 thousand dollars, the maximum allowed under the CBA.

Udrih will now officialy join the Spurs' summer league team in Long Beach, California this weekend.

The Spurs' summer shopping is now most likely complete after landing Brent Barry, resigning Manu Ginobili and freeing up Beno Udrih.