Jason Kidd wants Mavericks to be NBA trendsetters with two-bigs lineup

Safe to say Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd will be working with quite the different roster in 2025-26.

In lieu of the Luka Doncic-led Mavericks it’ll be the Anthony Davis and (presumably) Cooper Flagg show to start next season. Dallas will likely be shifting to a size-first style of play, pairing the 6-10 Davis next to third-year 7-1 center, Dereck Lively.

It’s not so much a significant change as it is an entire overhaul to the Dallas playbook. Jason Kidd knows this, and discussed the subject on Tuesday in an appearance on the K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM).

In Kidd’s radio appearance, he intimated that he understands the differences in the style of play that will be required of the Mavericks next season, and is in fact excited about the possibilities the roster presents.

Mavericks

Hear from Kidd below.

Question: “Now that the deadline has passed for players to withdraw from the draft, can we call him Cooper Flagg or are we still calling him ”The Kid From Duke?”

Jason Kidd: “I think let’s just play it safe and we’ll go with The Kid From Duke.”

Question: “I saw the odds that Flagg is -100,000 to be selected by the Mavericks. Will I win my $100 if I make that bet?”

Kidd: “I would say yes. Interesting news on those odds. This is a talented draft, some very talented young men. But the kid from Duke is very exciting.”

Q: “I feel like I’ve been on an island by myself arguing that bigs still have a place in the NBA. You guys kind of flipped it back to having big bodies, battling in [the paint]. Do you feel like you have something other teams don’t? And you can force your opponents to switch their game?”

Kidd: “I think everyone’s gonna start coming to visit your island. When you talk about being on an island by yourself because you have bigs have an opportunity in our league. I truly believe that, I agree with you. We believe with the Mavs — we’re big. We can put out a big lineup. And also we can — AD is 6-10, 7-feet, I think that ability to athletically have bigs that can guard smalls, when you look at certain teams in this league, like Cleveland. They’re big, but they’re athletic. So you can start to see teams are playing with two bigs, it gives you an advantage on both ends.”

Q: “How do you plan around these bigs when Lively and Davis have both had injury problems, how do you plan accordingly for that?”

Kidd: “Well I think when you have the depth that we have, I think that was on display last season. We truly believed our depth was one of our advantages. We didn’t think we would have so many injuries, but that’s part of the season. For that, being able to slide the next guy up, being able to have [Daniel] Gafford, [Naji] Marshall, certain guys like that that can step in and start until we can get healthy. I thought the group did an incredible job. You talk about our two-way plays, Brandon Williams, Kessler Edwards, those guys played extremely well for us and helped us win games. So when you talk about injuries, it’s part of our league, but there’s no panic.

Watch the full interview below. Click here if you can’t see the link.

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