The Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd are parting ways, an abrupt ending to the franchise icon’s five-year run as the team’s coach.
Kidd was hired in 2021 to lead a team with Luka Dončić as its centerpiece. The Mavericks went 52-30 games in Kidd’s first season in charge and made a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals. Two years later, the Mavericks won the Western Conference and reached the NBA Finals, where they lost a six-game series to the Boston Celtics.
But the situation in Dallas deteriorated quickly after the Mavericks traded Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025, only eight months removed from the team’s finals run.
Former general manager Nico Harrison was the driving force behind the trade, but prominent voices inside the Mavericks organization — namely, minority owner Mark Cuban — alleged that Kidd influenced the trade more than he said publicly.
“That doesn’t justify it for our coach and our general manager to stand up and trade our best player,” Cuban said on the “Intersections” podcast in April.
Days later, Kidd said that he was “not part of the process” and he was only made aware the deal was happening “at the 11th hour.”
Injuries ruined any chance the Mavericks had of succeeding after they traded Dončic. Anthony Davis, whom Kidd coached on the Lakers, suffered a left adductor strain in his first game with the Mavericks on Feb. 8, 2025. Weeks later, star guard Kyrie Irving tore the ACL in his left knee. Davis and Irving played a total of 25 minutes together in Dallas before Davis was traded to the Washington Wizards in February.
The Mavericks lost 30 of 37 games to close the regular season. On April 12, following Dallas’ regular-season finale against Chicago, Kidd said that it was difficult to evaluate the Mavericks’ last two seasons because of their litany of injury issues.
“We have to be healthy at some point,” Kidd said. “We want that to be next season. If that is, we can be judged.”
Kidd didn’t support Harrison’s decision in August 2023 to fire director of health and performance Casey Smith, who went on to accept a job with the New York Knicks. The Knicks won the NBATA Athletic Training Staff of the Year award in 2024-25. Last summer, the Knicks also had interest in hiring Kidd away from the Mavericks. The Mavericks blocked Kidd from interviewing with the Knicks and in October, gave him a contract extension.
Because of the number of years and money remaining on Kidd’s contract, there was skepticism in some corners of the NBA that the Mavericks would move on from Kidd. But sources with knowledge of Governor Patrick Dumont’s thinking insisted that newly installed president of basketball operations Masa Ujiri would have full control to shape the Mavericks organization as he saw fit. Ujiri was noncommittal when asked at his introductory news conference if Kidd would remain as the Mavericks’ coach.
“He’s done a great job, but we are going to look at this thing from head to toe” Ujiri said. “That’s the right way to look at an organization and evaluate in every single way we can.”
Ujiri later pointed out that he kept both of the coaches he inherited in his stops in Denver and Toronto. George Karl remained as the Nuggets coach for three seasons upon Ujiri taking charge. Dwane Casey was the Raptors coach for five years with Ujiri at the helm.
“I’m going to hear coach Jason Kidd out, his thoughts on everything,” Ujiri said. “Because some of the stuff here, I don’t know. For me, it’s that simple. If you go back to the history, it’s the same thing. I have to follow the process here. I’m excited to meet with him.”
Ultimately, a decision was made for the Mavericks and Kidd to end their partnership after five years. Now, the Mavericks need a new coach.
