“I have some unfinished business . . . to win that championship as a Net.” -JASON KIDD

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When two years of speculation ended, when the lure of Tim Duncan faded, when reports of serious friction with his coach slammed home, then bounced away, when the millions and millions of dollars were weighed and considered, one factor remained for Jason Kidd: unfinished business. And Kidd scanned down to the bottom line that, more than anything else, kept him in New Jersey.

“I’m very fortunate to be in a good situation here in New Jersey,” said Kidd, who made it official yesterday, signing a six-year, $103 million contract with the Nets, the team he, more than anyone, transformed from sad sacks to title contenders.

“There’s no better place. I feel my game fits and also my personality and everything else,” Kidd continued. “I just want to be on a winning team. There’s no better way than to be a part of something you started [building] from the ground, to see it building at the end and to sit back and say. ‘You know what? We accomplished something here.’ “

And so ended a two-year saga that contained more twists and turns than the New Jersey Turnpike. When Kidd arrived two years ago, he spoke of the Nets winning 40 games. His sanity was questioned. Many viewed New Jersey as a mere pit stop for the All-NBA guard. Two years – and two trips to the Finals – later, the Nets are an elite team. But the signing was anything but easy as reports that Kidd wanted Byron Scott out as coach emerged. Kidd again denied all that yesterday and, while admitting there were anxious moments, claimed his ultimate choice was not as difficult as it seemed.

“It wasn’t as tough a decision,” said Kidd, who this past season became the first Net to lead the league in assists. “It could have been easy to go to San Antonio and play with Tim Duncan and those guys after they just won the championship, but one thing I always felt was I have some unfinished business and that is to win a championship in this league and that is to win that championship as a Net.”

Which is the very best news franchise brass could hear.

“We are very excited, obviously, to sign the best player and best point guard in the league, the guy that has been the catalyst of this franchise,” Scott said.

“It’s been a long, winding road. The last month and a half has been very interesting to say the least,” said team president Rod Thorn. “It was imperative that this franchise re-sign Jason. We made it our top priority.”

And to that extent, the Nets upgraded the roster, adding Alonzo Mourning, who apparently had just as much impact on keeping Kidd a Net as Kidd had in making him a Net. Kidd related the “yes-I’m-staying-wait-I’m-not” day two weeks ago when he finally informed the Nets of his decision.

” ‘Zo was already in and I couldn’t back out on ‘Zo,” related Kidd, who said he called Thorn early in the morning of the day the reports surfaced in The Post and elsewhere of troubles with Scott. “I wasn’t leaning. I felt my decision was to stay, I felt comfortable with that. . . . This wasn’t a money [decision]. Coming here, I get less money than if I went to San Antonio. So it wasn’t the money.

“I called Rod in the morning and told him that I was in,” recalled Kidd, who then noted his agent Jeff Schwartz called back and said his client wasn’t yet ready to commit. “Then I called him later on . . . and I told him I was.”

Because there was the matter of finishing what he started in New Jersey.