Getty Jason Kidd coaching the Mavs
After leading the Dallas Mavericks back to the playoffs, many analysts believe head coach Jason Kidd has earned himself a contract extension. Dallas Morning News writer Brad Towsend thinks Kidd’s long-term future in Dallas will still depend on the Mavs’ performance this postseason.
Towsend stated that the organization’s new ownership led by Patrick Dumont is still evaluating how the Mavs perform in this year’s playoffs before deciding on Kidd’s future with the team.
“Perhaps new Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont, whose family purchased majority ownership of the franchise in late December, is awaiting the results of this postseason before weighing contract extensions,” Towsend wrote in his article published last April 20.
Despite the circumstances surrounding his head coaching stint, Kidd has received accolades from fans, the media, and, most significantly, the Mavs front office for finding ways to get his two superstars, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, to coexist in the same backcourt and transforming them into arguably the best 1-2 combo in the NBA.
In a previous interview with the Dallas Morning News, Mavs general manager Nico Harrison said that Kidd and his coaching team should be praised for getting Doncic and Irving to sacrifice some key aspects of their games so they could still play at a high level.
“The coaches have done a great job. One, when you have two superstar players, first and foremost, getting those guys to play together at a high level and respect each other’s play and to play together, you always have to take a little bit off your game for the success of the team,” Harrison said in a Q&A interview with Dallas Morning News published last April 12.
To be able to do that is remarkable. Jason and his staff have done that at a high level. We’re not successful if that doesn’t happen.”
NBA Insider Says It’s Natural For Jason Kidd to Sign Extension
NBA Insider Marc Stein believes it is only “natural” for Kidd to sign a contract extension considering what he did for the Mavs throughout the 2023-24 NBA season.
“As covered in our recent piece above about Irving’s first year-plus in Dallas, Kidd’s presence has been an unquestioned plus in the equation that has enabled Dončić and Irving to defy countless skeptics (yours truly included) and form one of the league’s most potent partnerships. An extension for Kidd before the final year of his current deal thus seems a natural.” Stein stated in his report.
If no extension is reached this offseason, Kidd will enter the final year of his contract with the Mavs. The terms of his current deal were not disclosed.
Kidd’s Road for Vindication Starts Now
After head coaching stops in Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles (Assistant), Kidd arrived in Dallas with the expectations that he could transform then a budding superstar in Doncic into the centerpiece of a perennial title contender.
Year 1 of Kidd’s head coaching reign in Dallas looked promising after he guided the Mavericks back to its first Western Conference finals stint since 2011 – the year he won his lone championship with the Mavs as a player.
Unfortunately, his second season didn’t go well. The Mavs went 38–44 in the regular season and missed the last play-in spot by two games. Also, during the 2022-23 season, Dallas acquired Irving in a midseason trade with the Nets, but the superstar struggled to properly integrate with the team.
With a full training camp around their belt plus the arrival of a pair of game-changing role players in Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington at the trade deadline, the Mavs have quickly established themselves as a dark horse contender this season with Doncic and Irving taking the lead.
When asked if he feels vindicated for proving his doubters wrong, Kidd replied that only a championship would make him feel so.
“Vindicated? No. The goal is to win a championship. I’ve had the opportunity to do it as a player and [assistant] coach. Now I’d like to do it again as a [head] coach,” Kidd told reporters via Dallas Morning News.