Dallas Mavericks’ head coach Jason Kidd apparently wasn’t kidding around about his future in North Texas.
Wednesday marked another chapter in the burgeoning rivalry between the Mavericks and New York Knicks. Whereas the former franchise has faltered, the latter has built a run of prosperity off the backs of ex-Mavs such as star guard Jalen Brunson.
The Knicks reportedly returned to Dallas this offseason to hire their head coach, Kidd, to fill the void left by Tom Thibodeau’s firing. Before Wednesday’s tip at American Airlines Center, however, Kidd revealed that departing was never really on the table.
“I never was thinking about leaving,” Kidd said before falling 113-111 to the Knicks, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “I love Dallas, I love working for [Mavericks owner] Patrick [Dumont]. [I’m] understanding that we have a lot of work to be done to be a champion. I’m all in to be able to do that. I was drafted here, I won here, I love the city, I love the fans, so it never crossed my mind to leave Dallas.”
Kidd was one of several active head coaches the Knicks reportedly recruited to fill their vacancy. New York eventually hired the independent Mike Brown before Dallas granted Kidd a multi-year extension.
New York’s hire won over current Maverick Klay Thompson, who collaborated with the new Knicks boss during several championship runs with the Golden State Warriors, including the 2017 trek that saw the then-assistant Brown lead most of the way in place of an ailing Steve Kerr.
“I know how much he cares about the game,” Thompson said in per Bondy. “He’s a player’s coach, and he started at an entry level, a video coordinating job, all the way to head coaching for many franchises. So his story is that of perseverance and commitment that’s second to none in the coaching world. He’ll do great. … Tough act to follow with [Thibodeau], but he’ll do a great job.”
Tours with the Mavericks and Knicks bookended Kidd’s playing career: Dallas welcomed him with the second overall pick in the 1994 draft before he was traded to the Phoenix Suns during his third season. Kidd would later return to North Texas in 2008, after his renowned tenure with the New Jersey Nets, and partook in the team’s first championship run three years later. He’d then end his career with a 76-game term in Manhattan in 2012-13.
The 10-time All-Star has since entered the coaching circuit, standing at the helm of the Nets’ Brooklyn incarnation and the Milwaukee Bucks before making another Dallas comeback in 2021 (while winning another ring as a Los Angeles Lakers assistant the year before). Since Kidd’s takeover, the Mavericks have posted a 183-161 record and reached the 2024 NBA Finals.
Of course, things have gotten a lot more difficult for Kidd since the Mavericks’ controversial trade of franchise face Luka Doncic. The injury bug has also been unrelenting, as the Mavs (4-12) have been missing Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, the primary yield from the doomed Doncic deal. Apparent consolation prize Cooper Flagg, the top pick of last summer’s draft, missed the Knicks’ visit due to an illness.
But under Kidd’s watch, the severely shorthanded Mavericks gave the Knicks all they could handle on Wednesday before consecutive clutch triples from Landry Shamet sealed their fate. Naji Marshall and D’Angelo Russell each put in 23 points for the Mavericks, who watched the former Kidd protege Brunson score a game-best 28.
Kidd made an early attempt at getting the last laugh during the pregame, appreciating his single season in Manhattan before reminding the masses of the way he placed turn-of-the-century momentum on New Jersey’s side in the former interstate rivalry with the Knicks.
“I would say I enjoyed that one year. The car ran out of gas at the end. I had to park it,” Kidd said, per Bondy. “But I really enjoyed that place when I played on the other side of the river in New Jersey, because we owned it.”
Kidd will return to Madison Square Garden in January, when the Knicks host the Mavericks in a holiday haunt on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
