Jason Kidd is correct about some things.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Mavericks do need to move on. The team\u2019s record should be higher than 24-53 after falling to the Magic<\/a> on Friday night. They have played in 42 clutch games (16-26) this season, and to the credit of veterans like Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, and Klay Thompson, this roster refuses to roll over. These are professionals who understand that tape lives forever and that pride matters even when star power has been stripped away. Max Christie has started most of the season at shooting guard. Brandon Williams and Ryan Nembhard have split point guard duties. Cooper Flagg missed several games due to a foot injury. Kyrie Irving hasn\u2019t played all season, and Dereck Lively II was only able to make a cameo appearance. This team has every excuse to tank comfortably<\/a>, and yet they keep making games closer than lottery-bound teams should.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Kidd deserves credit for that. Getting role players to compete when the playoffs are a mathematical impossibility is a real skill. The locker room hasn\u2019t fractured. The effort hasn\u2019t evaporated, and that matters. But here\u2019s where Kidd\u2019s plea to \u201cmove forward\u201d becomes more complicated: he\u2019s right that the franchise needs to move on. The question is whether \u201cforward\u201d includes him.<\/p>\n Because the same man asking Mavericks fans to move past the franchise\u2019s tumult just spent a carefully orchestrated media availability trying to scrub radioactive material off his own reputation \u2014 and the gaps in what he said are wider than what he actually admitted.<\/p>\n A history of honest evaluation<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written about Kidd several times during his run as head coach in Dallas, and each time the evidence moved, my position moved with it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In February 2023, I called for Kidd to be fired<\/a>. The Mavericks had coughed up a 27-point lead to the Los Angeles Lakers, and when asked why he didn\u2019t call a timeout, Kidd told reporters: \u201cI\u2019m not the savior here. I\u2019m watching. I\u2019m not playing, I\u2019m watching just like you guys.\u201d It was passive-aggressive deflection. An offseason that saw Jalen Brunson leave for nothing and JaVale McGee sign to be the starting center portended the disastrous regular season that unfolded. I wrote that we had crossed the Rubicon of dysfunction and that Kidd needed to go.<\/p>\n Then came the 2024 Finals run.<\/p>\n I was wrong. I admitted it publicly in May 2024<\/a>, writing that Kidd had proven himself as the right coach for that moment. The adjustments were sharp, the locker room chemistry was real, and Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s game-winner over Rudy Gobert doesn\u2019t happen without the defensive foundation Kidd built. I wrote: \u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier to be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t hedging. It was honest evaluation. When the evidence changes, you change your position. That\u2019s what separates analysis from agenda.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Now, in April 2026, the evidence has changed again.<\/p>\n The evasion<\/p>\n On Friday morning, before the Mavericks hosted the Orlando Magic, Kidd called a media availability to respond to Mark Cuban\u2019s bombshell comments on the Intersections podcast<\/a>. Cuban had said, plainly, that both Kidd and Nico Harrison were responsible for trading Don\u010di\u0107. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t justify it,\u201d Cuban said, \u201cfor our coach and our general manager to stand up and trade our best player.\u201d<\/p>\n Kidd\u2019s response was carefully curated. He said he \u201cwas not part of the process\u201d and that he \u201cwas informed at the 11th hour.\u201d He called Cuban right away after the podcast aired. He said the dispute between Cuban and Patrick Dumont was \u201cbetween the two owners.\u201d He said he\u2019s \u201chere to tell you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But here\u2019s what Kidd didn\u2019t say:<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t say it was a bad personnel decision.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t say he opposed the trade.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t say \u201cI told them not to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t say \u201cI was shocked\u201d or \u201cI disagreed.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t say \u201c\u2026and it was the first I\u2019d heard of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201c11th hour\u201d is a metaphorical phrase. It doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthe first time I heard about this.\u201d It means \u201cwhen it became official.\u201d Kidd was called to a hotel room in Cleveland and told the deal was done and would soon go public. That\u2019s what he means by \u201c11th hour.\u201d<\/p>\n But that tells us nothing about whether he was consulted beforehand. It tells us nothing about whether he told Harrison he wanted Anthony Davis on the team. It tells us nothing about whether he complained about Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s conditioning or defense in ways that emboldened Harrison to act.<\/p>\n Kidd has made the point in the past that his job is to cook with the ingredients he\u2019s given \u2014 not to shop for the groceries. He\u2019s positioned himself as the chef, not the one who decides what\u2019s in the pantry. But if that\u2019s true, why does Cuban say Kidd was in the room when the decision was made?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The answer is simple: \u201cI was not part of the process\u201d could mean \u201cI wasn\u2019t actually on the phone with Rob Pelinka negotiating the deal.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean \u201cI had no input.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean \u201cI didn\u2019t tell Harrison I\u2019d love to coach Davis.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean \u201cI didn\u2019t signal my frustration with Luka\u2019s habits.\u201d<\/p>\n This is the blank space where a lie of omission may be hiding. Kidd is linking statements that could technically be true while leaving room for Cuban\u2019s version to also be true. He\u2019s potentially trying to turn a phrase and hope we\u2019re too dumb to see the gap.<\/p>\n The motivation<\/p>\n Why does Kidd need to claim clean hands so desperately?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Because Cuban\u2019s comments are radioactive to his future. If Kidd is publicly linked to the worst trade in NBA history, who hires him next? What fanbase welcomes him? Even if he thought trading Don\u010di\u0107 for Davis was a good idea at the time \u2014 even if he lobbied for it \u2014 even if he told Harrison \u201cI can\u2019t win with Luka\u2019s defense\u201d \u2014 he can\u2019t afford to admit that now.<\/p>\n Not after Davis played 31 games across two partial seasons. Not after Kyrie tore his ACL. Not after the Mavericks salary-dumped Davis to Washington for spare parts. Not with the franchise sitting at 24-53 and eliminated from playoff contention for the third time in Kidd\u2019s five seasons.<\/p>\n So Kidd does what Kidd has always done: he curates his language carefully, deflects responsibility, and asks everyone to move on.<\/p>\n The record<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be clear about what Jason Kidd is as a head coach.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n His Dallas coaching tenure stands at 203 regular-season wins against 201 losses, and with five games left, it may well end below .500. Kidd has had two playoff runs in Dallas, powered by transcendent guard play. When that elite guard play disappeared, the results cratered.<\/p>\n Year 1 in Dallas: Western Conference Finals, overachievement with Don\u010di\u0107 and Brunson If we give Kidd full credit for the playoff runs, then these three dreadful seasons should not be contextualized away. That leaves us here, with another season circling the drain, and Kidd standing in front of media he clearly asked to gather so he could say: \u201cWhen are we going to move on? We have to move forward.\u201d He\u2019s right. They do.<\/p>\n But getting role players to compete hard while steering the franchise to the lottery for the third time in five years isn\u2019t good enough. Not when you\u2019re carrying the stench of the Don\u010di\u0107 trade. Not when Cuban just threw you under the same proverbial bus that already ran over Nico Harrison.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Stench Principle<\/p>\n A significant chunk of the Dallas Mavericks fanbase<\/a> wants everyone associated with the Don\u010di\u0107 trade gone. It\u2019s not complicated. It\u2019s the basic human need for a clean slate after a trauma as deep as losing a generational talent in the dead of night<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harrison is gone. Fired in November after \u201cFire Nico\u201d chants became a cultural rallying cry<\/a> in the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n Cuban has been largely relegated to wildly refreshing (if you admire candid admissions over PR style evasion) vent sessions on the podcast circuit \u2014 his ownership stake reduced to 27%, his influence diminished.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Davis \u2014 the apparent long-standing sugar plum of Harrison\u2019s roster dreams \u2014 has been dumped to Washington for flimsy draft picks and expiring contracts.<\/p>\n Kidd is still here. Still coaching, still deflecting in corporate doublespeak, still asking us to move forward while refusing to tell the purportedly exculpatory context that led to that hotel room in Cleveland, where he learned the world was minutes away from feeling the sports earthquake of our lives. He would have us believe he was Pollyanna pure<\/a> in the weeks and months beforehand, while Harrison was marinating in his Salieri-level resentment of Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s genius, presence, and inner circle.<\/a><\/p>\n The franchise needs a clean slate. Gosh, at this point, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to have a new logo. That\u2019s how much this team needs to start over. And having a brand new head coach \u2014 despite Kidd being under contract \u2014 would not be the worst thing in the world for a franchise that wants to do exactly what Kidd says it should: move on.<\/p>\n The Insufficiency Defense<\/p>\n Even if everything Kidd said is true \u2014 even if he found out at the literal 11th hour, even if he had no input, even if his hands are clean \u2014 it\u2019s still not enough.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Because the best defense Kidd can muster is: \u201cI coach the guys they give me, and they play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s true. They do play hard. Gafford, Washington, Marshall, Thompson, Christie, Williams and others \u2014 they compete. The clutch games are real. The effort is undeniable.<\/p>\n When you try to use carefully curated language to thread a needle between technical truth and emotional honesty, it is fair to question if you are telling the whole story of your part in this tragedy.<\/p>\n Yet this is still a team heading to the lottery for the third time in five years under Kidd\u2019s watch. This is still a coach whose only playoff success came when he had a top-five player in the world running the offense.<\/p>\n Getting role players to compete in a lost season isn\u2019t a coaching r\u00e9sum\u00e9; it\u2019s the baseline expectation.<\/p>\n And when Cuban says you were in the room, that is not an opinion about Kidd, it\u2019s a public indictment of his complicity. Kidd\u2019s comments to the media came off like a panicked search for a rhetorical escape hatch by saying \u201cI found out at the 11th hour\u201d without clarifying whether he supported the trade or opposed it. When you try to use carefully curated language to thread a needle between technical truth and emotional honesty, it is fair to question if you are telling the whole story of your part in this tragedy.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The path forward<\/p>\n Kidd is right. The Mavericks need to move on, but moving on doesn\u2019t mean forgetting. It doesn\u2019t mean pretending the past didn\u2019t happen. It means learning from it. It means holding people accountable. It means making sure the same mistakes don\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n Harrison is gone because the fanbase demanded it. Cuban has been sidelined because Dumont seized control. Davis is gone because his body broke, and the franchise cut bait. Kidd is still here because he has a contract extension and because Dumont hasn\u2019t decided yet whether continuity or a fresh start serves Flagg\u2019s development better.<\/p>\n But if the franchise truly wants to move forward \u2014 if it seeks to build around Flagg with a clean slate and a new identity \u2014 then Kidd becomes part of what they need to move on from. Not because he\u2019s a bad coach. Not because the team doesn\u2019t play hard for him. But because the Geiger counter is still going crazy even after he attempted to Jedi mind-trick the media and the fans on Friday morning. The only way to stop the clicking is to remove every last piece of radioactive material from the building.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Kidd is right. It\u2019s time to move forward.<\/p>\n The question is whether he\u2019s willing to accept what that actually means \u2014 and if Dumont already has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Kidd is correct about some things. The Dallas Mavericks do need to move on. The team\u2019s record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[495,7,225,686,149,4057,2619,1264,288,3716,498,967,150,2087,166,121,5989,6,591,76,7725,373,9856,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-699682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallasmavericks","14":"tag-daniel-gafford","15":"tag-dereck-lively-ii","16":"tag-jalen-brunson","17":"tag-jason-kidd","18":"tag-klay-thompson","19":"tag-kyrie-irving","20":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","21":"tag-mark-cuban","22":"tag-mavericks","23":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","24":"tag-naji-marshall","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-nico-harrison","27":"tag-orlando-magic","28":"tag-patrick-dumont","29":"tag-rudy-gobert","30":"tag-ryan-nembhard","31":"tag-the-mavericks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Year 2 in Dallas: Tanked the final two games, fined by the league, Lively drafted
Year 3 in Dallas: NBA Finals, Luka and Kyrie supplemented by deadline moves
Year 4 in Dallas: Luka traded, Kyrie and AD injured, limped to 39-43 and a play-in loss
Year 5 in Dallas: 24-53 so far, lottery-bound for the third time in five years<\/p>\n