SAN ANTONIO – Either today or Thursday, the real work will begin for the Nets and team president Rod Thorn.

The Nets entered last night’s Game 6 here against the Spurs desperately seeking a reprieve from the elimination gods as San Antonio held the 3-2 lead and the homecourt. The Nets’ only thought was to force a Game 7 Wednesday. But win or lose in Game 6 or 7, the Nets face a summer of overpoweringly important moves.

For starters, there’s Jason Kidd and his free agency. Kidd’s decision is only as important to the franchise as, say, oxygen is to the average human. Come Aug. 1, Kenyon Martin will undoubtedly seek a contract extension to avoid being a free agent after next season. And don’t forget Byron Scott, who would be going into his final year next season. Then there are matters such as the draft, Lucious Harris’ free agency, trade questions, the possibility of CEO Lou Lamoriello giving up the reins of the Nets, the wooing of assistant Eddie Jordan by several teams. Little stuff like that.

First, there was Game 6 of course. Then, above all, there is Kidd.

“We can’t worry about that. All year long, that’s how we’ve looked at it. If he’s going to leave, there’s nothing we can do about it because that’s up to Jason and his family. If he does go I’ll tip my cap to him and wish him the best, and then I’ll knock him on his butt when I see him again,” said Kenyon Martin, proclaiming himself fit after the flu.

“We’re getting closer to the point where [Kidd’s free agency] is going to become the main concern, either tomorrow or Thursday, whenever the series ends,” Thorn said yesterday. “Then we just wait until July the first.”

Teams can begin negotiating with free agents July 1, and can sign them two weeks later. Kidd and his agent Jeffrey Schwartz will undoubtedly seek the maximum contract: six years at $102 million or, if they can get a seventh year, a $116-million total. So everything Kidd does from here could be “his last time as a Net.” His last shot, his last interview, his last interview with T.J., etc. In fact, he may have played his last home game as a Net – the 93-83 Game 5 defeat.

“If that really was his last game at the Meadowlands, then the energy level he played at for all 48 minutes was absolutely incredible, as amazing as anything I’ve ever seen,” Thorn said. “We’re almost to July 1 and that’s going to play out how it’s going to play out.

“We’d like to sign him. I don’t want to use the word ‘coy,’ but his agent, Jeff Schwartz, is a very good agent and he’s going to try to set the marketplace where he’d like to set it. It’s part of the game you play,” added Thorn, who admitted Net management has a plan in place for the Kidd question. “San Antonio, really, is the only team that can pay the big money. They’re the only team out there. Anybody else, the only way the big money is out there is if it’s a sign-and-trade. Maybe the Clippers.”

Kidd has artfully deflected all free agency issues during the Finals. Throughout the season, he answered all questions as best he could without sending false hopes or alarms. After Game 5, he said that “if” it were his last game in the Meadowlands, he had wanted to play with his customary style. This was seen in some circles as punching his ticket out of town.

“When the series is over I will go on vacation . . . with my kids, just hang out with the kids,” said Kidd, who immediately shifted the focus back to the task at hand, not his future, and noted of Thorn’s contention to get a zone-busting shooter, “I couldn’t care less what he’s going to do this summer. My concentration is all on [Game 6].”