One of the simplest ways to describe Jason Kidd is to say he is one of the greatest guards ever. However, even the man in question knows he was more than that. Kidd admitted that he found it difficult to put his entire career into perspective.
For J-Kidd, perhaps the most appropriate description of himself as a player is to compare him to award-winning actor Kevin Bacon. For context, Bacon is famous for his versatility, having played various movie roles. This also made him the inspiration behind the parlor game, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
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Kidd believes that throughout his NBA career, he was very much like Bacon. He embraced different roles for an array of teams and played against stars from different eras as well.
“Kevin Bacon. Yeah, man. Seriously. Sometimes I feel like I’m the Kevin Bacon of basketball. Six degrees of separation,” Kidd wrote in a piece for The Players’ Tribune in 2018.
“What I mean is, when I think back on my career, it’s like I’m watching all these different movies that I can’t believe I got to play different parts in,” he further explained. “I was lucky to come into the NBA at this incredible moment. I caught the tail end of the Jordan era. I caught the prime of the Kobe/Shaq era. I caught the rise of LeBron’s domination. And then, in my last few years as a player and then as a coach, I caught the beginning of the Warriors’ era and the explosion of small ball. Each role I played on all these teams was a little different in its own way. They all shaped me.”
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The different phases of Kidd as a player
J-Kidd’s comparison was unique and quite unexpected. However, judging by how his career played out, he appears to be like the actor he named.
After being a Consensus All-American player in his sophomore year at the University of California, Berkeley, Kidd went straight into the pros and was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks as the No. 2 overall pick in 1994. He quickly made a name for himself as a crafty guard. He finished his debut season as the co-Rookie of the Year award alongside Grant Hill.
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In his second year in the league, J-Kidd was already an All-Star player. By the time he was dealt to the Phoenix Suns in 1997, he was considered one of the best point guards of the ’90s. Kidd’s career then improved when he joined the New Jersey Nets in 2001.
At that point, Kidd was already an MVP-caliber player. He led the Nets to back-to-back conference titles in 2002 and 2003. As he aged, Kidd found himself returning to Dallas.
In 2011, at age 37, Kidd finally won an NBA championship with the Mavs. He was then recruited by the New York Knicks in his final NBA season to provide experience for the team’s title hopes that year.
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J-Kidd performs well at any job
Kidd didn’t win a second NBA title with the Knicks. At 39, he decided to retire. That same year, an opportunity to be an NBA coach arose.
Shortly after officially retiring, Kidd was hired as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. After stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers, J-Kidd landed a coaching role with his original team, the Mavs, a position he still holds today.
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Even as a coach, Kidd stood out. He was credited with contributing to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s development as a player and was the leader behind the Mavs’ NBA Finals appearance in 2024.
It’s safe to say Kidd played a wide range of roles in the sport. More importantly, he performed well in every job he took, just like Kevin Bacon.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.