The Dallas Mavericks fired Jason Kidd for one reason only, and he has to own it
Jason Kidd tried every verbal trick to minimize and distance his role in the worst trade in NBA history, but no amount of soap, or gasoline, could completely wash his guilt.
Not Nico Harrison-level guilt, but culpability, which is why Kidd is no longer the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
On Wednesday at the American Airlines Center, new Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri met with the media to address the team’s decision to “move on” from Kidd, which was announced Tuesday evening.
When Ujiri was first introduced in early May, he made it clear that he would talk to Kidd before committing to his return as the head coach. Ujiri also said to look at his track record at the two previous tenures he’s had in a similar role.
In those two jobs — the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors — he retained the coach he inherited. This time, the head coach lasted two weeks.
Dallas Mavericks cleaning house
On Wednesday, Ujiri praised and thanked Kidd while using the words “clean slate” on more than one occasion.
I asked Ujiri if this decision is related to the franchise’s desire to move on from those who were here and involved with the trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
“That trade has played no part in how this decision has been made,” Ujiri said. “I’m in no position to criticize, or blame, or really investigate things that happened then. I made it very clear; it’s something we have to find healing and move from. And that’s my job. I have to be that transition.
“We have to figure out a way to move on, and I have to hold myself accountable for doing this. So, no, it did not play any part in how I thought about making this decision.”
Ujiri’s well-meaning message is the case of an executive talking out of both sides of mouth. There is no way to have the “clean slate” that he seeks if he retained Kidd.
Ujiri also said Wednesday the team’s co-GM, Matt Riccardi, is leaving the organization. Ujiri said that fellow co-GM Michael Finley is in “talks” about finding a role to remain with the team; this may be a nice way of suggesting Finley has time to find a job with another team.
For the sake of this franchise, Kidd had to go. Even though team governor Patrick Dumont is relatively new at owning a pro basketball team, he is smart enough to recognize there are some decisions that must be made regardless of the cost.
The move caught a lot of Mavericks’ staffers by surprise, because of the price tag. To make the type of decisions the Mavericks have made in the last year or so required Dumont agreeing to eat tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed contracts for Kidd and Harrison.
Jason Kidd had to go
Taking Kidd at his word that he had nothing to do with the trade was increasingly difficult even for his strongest supporters. As the head coach, he was powerless to stop it, but he could have served as a speed bump.
Former team owner Mark Cuban, who still has minority shares in the franchise, tossing Kidd under the bus during the season when he said that Kidd knew about the deal well before it was announced put the head coach in hard spot. It was always unbelievable that Kidd had no idea it was coming, as it was suggested.
According to multiple sources, his relationship with Doncic had been strained for a while, and he didn’t throw a fit when Harrison told his coach the deal was complete. Kidd may not have been as sick of Doncic as Harrison was, but there was strain and fatigue.
Kidd’s relationship to the trade, even if tangential, became a defining point in his tenure as the Mavericks’ head coach. A tenure that began due in part because of the Mavs’ desire for Kidd to coach Doncic, something that his predecessor, Rick Carlisle, suggested on his way out.
Kidd’s tenure saw the team reach the Western Conference finals twice, and NBA Finals once. In his five years as the Mavs head coach, the team won 50 games twice, while the other three years they finished under .500. Under Kidd, in the regular season the team was a “perfect” 205-205.
If you look into the specifics of those three ugly years, there were injury and roster issues.
And if you look into some of the other specifics of those five years, he was the head coach when the team traded one of the best players in the world to the L.A. Lakers for what now amounts to Max Christie.
There was no way for Kidd to run from that, and there is no way for the Mavs to have a “clean slate” if he was their head coach.
