The Dallas Mavericks have named Jason Kidd the franchise’s 10th head coach.
Kidd, who was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, begins his third stint in Dallas after spending eight of his 19 seasons as a player with the team and helping the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title.
Kidd joins the Mavericks after most recently serving two seasons as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he was part of the franchise’s 2020 NBA championship season.
“We are excited to welcome J-Kidd and his family back to Dallas,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. “He possesses a winning mentality that carried him through a Hall of Fame career as a player and has helped him successfully transition to the NBA’s coaching ranks. We are eager for him to get to work and lead our franchise and talented young players into the future.”
Kidd’s coaching career began in 2013 when he helmed the Brooklyn Nets for one season. He is the third person since the NBA-ABA merger (1976) to become a head coach in the season after he retired as a player. As a rookie head coach, Kidd earned a pair of Eastern Conference Coach of the Month awards (January and March), leading the Nets to 44-38 record and an appearance in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
On July 1, 2014, Kidd became the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in a transaction that sent two second round draft picks to Brooklyn (2015, 2019). He became the first coach in NBA history to lead two teams to the postseason in his first two seasons after helping the Bucks to a 41-41 record and improving on their 15-win season from a year earlier. Kidd finished third in NBA Coach of the Year voting following the 2014-15 season.
In three-plus seasons with Milwaukee, Kidd amassed a 139-152 record and appeared in the playoffs twice before parting ways with the franchise midway through the 2017-18 season.
“Dallas has meant so much to me as a player and I want to thank Mark Cuban for the opportunity to return as a head coach,” Kidd said. “I am excited to get to work with this young, hungry and incredibly talented team and to continue to build a winning legacy for the Mavericks organization.”
Kidd was drafted second overall by the Mavericks in 1994 NBA Draft and spent two-and-a-half seasons in Dallas before being traded to Phoenix during the 1996-97 campaign. He shared Rookie of the Year honors with Grant Hill after averaging 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists in his first season.
Kidd returned to Dallas from New Jersey in an eight-player trade in February 2008. Following the trade, Kidd teamed up with former Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki and together they led the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title, defeating Miami 4-2 to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy to DFW.
The 10-time NBA All-Star averaged 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.9 steals in 1,391 games (1,350 starts) with Dallas, Phoenix, New Jersey and New York. In 500 games with Dallas (all starts), he averaged 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 8.4 assists 1.9 steals and 34.6 minutes. Kidd’s 12,091 career assists and 2,684 career steals are the second-most in NBA history behind John Stockton. His 107 career triple-doubles represent the fourth-most in NBA history.
Kidd played two seasons at the University of California. The Oakland, California, native led the Golden Bears to consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and, as a sophomore, was an All-American and the Pac-10 Player of the Year. He also won two Olympic gold medals as a member of Team USA (2000, 2008).
