10 years almost to the day after he helped lead the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA title, Jason Kidd is the team’s new head coach.
ESPN’s Tim McMahon reported on Friday that the Mavs have agreed to terms with Kidd to make him the 10th coach in the franchise history. He spent the last two years as an assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers and has five prior years of head coaching experience.
As a first-year head coach with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013-14 season, Kidd went 44-38 and reached the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He went to the Milwaukee Bucks the following season and led them to two playoff appearances in his first three years. But he was fired after a 23-22 start to the 2017-18 season.
Unfortunately, his struggles with the Bucks have left Mavs fans rather mixed on the hire. Kidd doesn’t have the greatest of reputations, and some are worried that he might not be able to make things work with superstar Luka Doncic.
Source: Mavs have officially agreed to terms with Jason Kidd to be their head coach and longtime Nike executive Nico Harrison to be the GM and run their basketball operations.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 25, 2021
“Luka outta there by the end of this season,” one fan replied.
“Welp all we can do hope for something,” wrote another.
“As long as luka signed off on both hires, im okay with it. All that matters is if luka is happy and we get good free agents,” another fan replied.
“As of now, Two strong hires for a team that typically misses out on big name Free Agents. Kidd brings so much to Luka while Nico can be that salesman for the Mavs franchise.”
Just about any hire by the Dallas Mavericks was likely going to be a controversial one. They were bound to be hard-pressed to find a coach who would upgrade from longtime head coach Rick Carlisle.
But Kidd had the endorsements of Carlisle and Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki, and the respect of team owner Mark Cuban.
Like it or not, Jason Kidd is back in the NBA head coaching ranks.
Whether he keeps that role long enough to get the Mavs back to prominence likely hinges on his ability to keep Luka Doncic happy and recruit other superstars.
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