Jason Kidd has been a dynamic part of the Dallas Mavericks and their history for the last three decades. From Co-Rookie of the Year in 1994 to point guard for the 2011 championship team to coaching the team during its 2024 run back to the NBA Finals, Kidd has been there and done that with this team since the team was playing in Reunion Arena.
And now, per Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, Kidd may be looking for another promotion.
On Fanduel’s Run It Back show Thursday, Mannix said Kidd is interested
in becoming the team’s next General Manager and he “would keep his eye on” Kidd ascending to that role.
“I also wouldn’t dismiss Jason Kidd as a candidate for this job. I mean, Jason Kidd is very well respected for what he’s done in Dallas and he’s very well liked by ownership,” Mannix said. “And if he wasn’t the head coach of this team doing a great job developing Cooper Flagg, he might be in consideration more strongly.”
This speculation comes as Dallas is searching for its next GM following former GM Nico Harrison’s dismissal in November — just nine months after the infamous Luka Dončić trade. The Mavericks are reportedly interested in OKC’s Sam Presti, Minnesota’s Tim Connelly, Boston’s Brad Stevens, and Cleveland’s Koby Altman as potential suitors for the job.
Problem is — it’s not likely any of those guys will want to leave their current teams as all four have current aspirations to win it all and the Mavericks will finish in the lottery for the third time in the last four seasons this year. If the Mavericks swing and miss on these candidates, an internal promotion could be where the team turns.
It’s important to note that there is no official report linked to this speculation, just one reporter’s musings on an internet show, but it brings up an interesting question: should Dallas fans want Kidd to become the team’s general manager if the opportunity presented itself.
For me, the answer is a resounding no.
First and perhaps most importantly, it’s been recently reported that Kidd knew about the Dončić trade well before it happened, and the entire point of firing Harrison in November was to turn the page on that decision. So, hiring someone that was, at a bare minimum, complicit in that decision feels like the wrong choice to make.
But going deeper, Kidd has tried to usurp power as a head coach in the past. In 2014, he left Brooklyn after just one year as head coach after he demanded to oversee all basketball operations after — let me reiterate this so it’s perfectly clear — nine months of head coaching experience and zero front office experience.
Brooklyn, understandably, said no and Kidd immediately fled to Milwaukee where he allegedly got that power he sought in Brooklyn, becoming the Bucks’ ‘de facto GM’ — per a 2016 report from Adrian Wojnarowski that said Kidd was effectively in charge of personnel.
Kidd was coach/’de facto GM’ in Milwaukee from 2014-2018 and amassed a 139-152 record before being fired midseason in the 2017-2018 campaign. That’s not exactly an inspiring track record for a team looking to be playoff contenders next season with the Rookie of the Year favorite Cooper Flagg on the roster.
Kidd’s had better success in Dallas as coach and has led the Mavericks to a WCF appearance in 2022 and an NBA Finals appearance in 2024. It’s in the team’s best interest to leave him on the bench. Let’s not become the mid-2010 Milwaukee Bucks.
Conduct a GM search, find your guy, and let’s start the next era of Dallas Mavericks basketball on the right note. It’s been a horrendous year since the Dončić trade and now is not the time to be experimenting with an inexperienced general manager whose eagerness to seize power got him fired from not one, but two NBA teams.
Let Kidd stay on the bench and mentor Flagg and the team’s 2026 lottery pick. Leave the executive positions for people who have actually run NBA front offices in the past.
