Wednesday was a big day for Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, and losing to a couple of teenage girls at HORSE didn’t change that.
That wasn’t the only highlight for five girls from the True Texas Hoops club basketball program. They got to meet Mavericks guard Max Christie during a visit to the NBA team’s practice facility, and they learned Kidd will be helping kick-start their careers.
Kidd announced the expansion of his commitment to girls youth basketball with Jason Kidd Select South, a North Texas-based program designed to develop and elevate elite female athletes while increasing access and opportunity across the region.
The girls who shared the court with him will become part of Kidd’s program, and they immediately saw the benefits of being associated with a Hall of Famer who was a 10-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA title as a player for the Mavericks in 2011.
High School Sports
The first thing Kidd did was bring Christie over to meet the girls and to talk about what he was working on. Then, Kidd played a game of HORSE with his visitors, and found it difficult to keep up with middle school and high school stars who were making shot after shot.
“We’re really excited to bring the program here,” Kidd said. “We built the model in Northern California, and we believe that it will be just as big here. When you talk about the young ladies, they are very talented. They’re not scared. They outshot me today, but it was fun.”
It goes back to Kidd’s desire to honor the late Kobe Bryant. When the NBA legend and global icon died in 2020 in a helicopter crash while on his way to a youth basketball tournament with daughter Gianna, the news hit Kidd hard.
Over a 19-year NBA career, Kidd won an Olympic gold medal in 2008 and competed at All-Star Games with Bryant. But the stars also shared a commitment to youth sports.
Bryant, an 18-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, had co-owned the Southern California-based Mamba Sports Academy, which trained athletes of all ages and skill levels.
Kidd wanted to continue Bryant’s legacy and expand opportunities for young female athletes, so he started JK Select Girls Basketball in California’s Bay Area, where he was born.
“The things that he was doing in youth sports, especially for women, I wanted to continue to help what he was doing,” Kidd said. “I thought I would try to pick up the torch and continue to bring a light to the game of basketball, especially for the young ladies.”
Youth sports have changed dramatically since Kidd’s childhood in Oakland.
“Growing up playing youth sports, it was probably always dominated by the males,” Kidd said. “Seeing young ladies when I was playing at this age, the girls would play with the boys, and a lot of times the boys didn’t want to guard the girl, because the girl was better. Women’s sports has taken off. You talk about women’s basketball, you talk about volleyball, you talk about softball, lacrosse, everything that women are doing at a very high level.”
The Bay Area program, entering its sixth year, has produced more than 45 NCAA Division I athletes and four state Gatorade Players of the Year. Kidd said players have traveled the world, visiting Greece, Croatia and Hong Kong.
The expansion of the program to Dallas with Jason Kidd Select South is a partnership with longtime North Texas club True Texas Hoops. It will fully subsidize elite select teams directly through the Jason Kidd Foundation, which Kidd said will raise money to create opportunities for those who can’t afford it. They will also help girls navigate social media, NIL and other issues they will encounter in high school and beyond, Kidd said.
The announcement follows Kidd’s launch last month of JK Select Baseball, a nationwide youth baseball initiative that has long-term plans to expand to 1,000 teams in states with key baseball markets.
The Dallas girls basketball program will be led by Kim Lummus Crabtree, founder and head coach of True Texas Hoops, who starred at Cleburne High School and the University of Texas and served as a student coach under Hall of Famer Jody Conradt.
A national team of girls ages 15 through 17 will travel the country, Kidd said. But Jason Kidd Select South will also serve athletes in fourth through eighth grade and in high school, with plans to field approximately 12 to 15 teams across all age levels.
“I’m really appreciative of him wanting to help younger players in the D-FW area and just girls basketball,” said eighth-grader Trinity Boyd, one of the top point guards in the Class of 2030 who already has multiple Division I offers.
While the organization’s foundation is in Texas, the program is designed to include New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana while creating a hub in Dallas-Fort Worth for regional talent.
“I think it will help a lot,” said Flower Mound Marcus sophomore Jaeda Ramnanan, an elite prospect in the 2028 class who already holds Division I offers and has surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career. “It’s a great opportunity under his name and getting our team out there and playing in front of many people.”
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