It’s morning in Dallas. The kind of morning where everything is possible, where the sun shines in that special way and life seems a little bit less serious. Is that a small bubble of pure joy I feel deep inside?
Jason Kidd is not the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks anymore. The joy I feel is not because he is gone, but because the wind of change is finally here.
Jason Kidd was a divisive coach. Some didn’t like him and wanted him gone, especially after the Luka Trade. Others didn’t mind him and thought
he did a great job.
I think the truth is somewhere in between.
Was he part of making the decision to trade Luka Doncic? Who knows. But the Mavericks need a new start, fresh voices and thoughts, and innovative ways of doing things in order to be able to stay relevant in the fast-moving world of the NBA. And that just wasn’t possible with Kidd at the helm.
He did a good job along the way. He helped develop many young players, and all have spoken very well of him. He managed egos and the intangible aspects of how to run a good team, like connectedness and individual accountability very well. He had a great talent for getting his players to believe and rally around him. I’m sure the list is much longer if you ask his players. And maybe this is really where he was best.
But you can’t say that he was innovative. We regularly saw tired, old rotations, which often didn’t make sense and sometimes clearly served to prove other points than trying to win.
We saw the same ATO plays so often that the opposing teams learned how to read it almost every time.
We saw so many missed timeout opportunities, which could have helped the players rest, get resettled and change or stop momentum or a run. When questioned about this, he once replied: “I’m watching, like you guys”. Was he joking? Who knows, but it wasn’t very funny.
And we saw too much reliance on his franchise player to carry the team and make plays out of sheer individual brilliance, rather than as a product of a coherent scheme.
It wasn’t valued and given credit, and maybe only realized too late how much of an effect said player actually had on winning.
Right after the firing on Tuesday, ESPN Insights reported that Jason Kidd had a .563 win percentage with the Mavericks before Luka Doncic was traded on February 2, 2025. After the Doncic trade, Kidd had a .339 win percentage.
But I am not sure things are that simple.
The injuries and players he had on the roster were just not comparable. So either his partner and previous GM Nico Harrison set him up for failure with that trade — and all the medical staff hirings and issues — or Kidd was part of the decision-making and later reaped what he had sowed. They did arrive as a team in Dallas, the two of them, remember?
Either way, Jason Kidd had to go after the Doncic trade fiasco. In order to start over, you have to start over.
It was a quick and decisive move by new Dallas Mavericks president and alternate governor, Masai Ujiri. Hired on 4, it took him a couple of weeks to hire a general manager, Mike Schmitz, who he had wanted from day one. Then, just 11 days after that hire, the decision to fire Jason Kidd was announced.
“I’ve known him for many, many years,” Masai Ujiri said of Mike Schmitz. “He’s an incredible scout, an incredible leader. He digs deep into work, data, and what you want to know about really scouting a player, team building, all those things.”
“Treating people well, scout organizing, managing people, it’s a whole package you want and it’s very important that we set a tone now for this organization because the fans, the organization, you (media) guys, everybody deserves that,” Ujiri said.
That sounds like as good a reason to find a new coach, as any I’ve heard.
They say you don’t want to meet your heroes. I never met Jason Kidd, but I came to know how to read him — along with most of the fanbase and media people — and to read between the lines when he spoke. There was a lot of saying one thing and doing another, playing certain players to prove a point and holding on to a decision instead of being flexible and adjusting along the way. We became accustomed to the mind tricks and framing.
But we also got to experience some special moments. The fact that he managed to keep the small group of players who were not injured this season motivated stands out to me. That’s impressive.
The “nobody’s dying” quote from 2023 remains a classic. “We’re getting better. It’s just a matter — can we be healthy in time to make a stretch run? If we’re not, that’s just the season. Nobody’s dying.”
And what about the old “I’m watching, just like you guys”, mentioned earlier. That was one for the history books. You really have to be sure of your spot to say something like that about your job.
But with a new coach, the Dallas Mavericks will be the exciting new project, finally — the organization that Cooper Flagg — and what remains of the Mavs fanbase —deserves.
Don’t underestimate the work they did to change what happened after they had the rug pulled from under them in the Doncic trade. Like the major protests outside the American Airlines Center:
Many stopped buying season tickets and showing up to games to show their disapproval and eventually the people in charge realized what a grave mistake they had made and fired Harrison earlier this year.
There’s strength in numbers. Dallas fans showed that they have power if they stick together, and that is no small feat. Mavs fans spoke too loudly to ignore. Hopefully, others feel inspired to do the same, because change only happens when you stand up for what you believe.
Jason Kidd, however, will always be part of Dallas Mavericks history. He was part of a memorable run as a player and then as a coach with two of the best and most entertaining players the league has ever seen. He has influenced the career arcs of both Doncic and Flagg. For that, we can be grateful. And for all parties involved, it is finally time to move on.
