Jason Kidd out as Mavericks coach after five seasons with Masai Ujiri looking to start fresh
The Dallas Mavericks have fired Jason Kidd as head coach just weeks after installing Masai Ujiri as their new team president, the team announced Tuesday.
"Jason has had a meaningful impact on the Dallas Mavericks, both as a Hall of Fame player and as the head coach who helped lead this franchise back to the NBA Finals," Ujiri said in a statement. "We are thankful for Jason's leadership, his professionalism and his commitment to the team. In my short time here, I've developed an enormous amount of respect for what he has built. He will always be an important part of the Mavericks family."
Kidd, who reportedly had four years and more than $40 million left on his contract, coached the Mavericks for five seasons, taking them to two conference finals and an NBA Finals. In total, he went 205-205 during his tenure. Last season was a wash as Kyrie Irving spent the year rehabbing his torn ACL and Anthony Davis was traded. If Copper Flagg didn't fall into their laps, this franchise would still be a rudderless ship lost at sea after Luka Dončić was traded.
But now there's at least some hope moving forward. Ujiri is seen as a symbol of stability and whoever he hires as his new coach has some nice stuff to work with, namely Flagg and this year's No. 9 overall draft pick.
Kidd has had his critics everywhere he has coached, but it's tough to argue with the success he had with the Mavericks. To this day, nobody has really reported how much he had to do with trading Dončić, if he even had any say at all. He swears he was as blindsided as everyone else. That said, Kidd had "expressed a desire" to replace Nico Harrison as president of basketball operations after he was fired in November, but was told that was not on the table, according to ESPN.
Either way, you almost have to get rid of everyone who was in a position of leadership when that trade went down just to get an actual fresh start. Harrison was fired and now Kidd is gone. It's officially a new day in Dallas.
Replacement candidatesAs established, ousting Kidd was Ujiri's first big move as team president. His second will be hiring a coach to hopefully shape the future of the Mavericks around Flagg. Here are a few names who could fit the bill.
- Sean Sweeney: Jason Kidd's longtime assistant coach left in 2025 to serve as the associate head coach with the Spurs under Mitch Johnson. Could Dallas woo him back?
- Tom Thibodeau: If the front office wants to go big-name hunting, the former Knicks coach qualifies.
- Nick Nurse: Sure, he's still employed by the 76ers, but after president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was fired last week, how much stability is left? Nurse served as the head coach under Ujiri in Toronto when the Raptors won the 2019 championship (and then got fired by him too).
Kidd joins a growing list of coaching changes this offseason. Doc Rivers stepped away from the Milwaukee Bucks and was replaced by Taylor Jenkins, while the New Orleans Pelicans hired Jamahl Mosley to replace interim James Borrego, who stepped in midseason after Willie Green was fired.
Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers all have head coach openings to fill.
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