From Mike Chiari of B/R:
The Dallas Mavericks reportedly agreed to make Jason Kidd their new head coach Friday, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported Kidd agreed to a four-year contract.
Charania added that Dallas also hired Nico Harrison as its new GM and head of basketball operations.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported former Mavericks guard J.J. Barea has had preliminary conversations to join Kidd’s coaching staff.
Rick Carlisle served as the Mavs’ head coach for 13 seasons from 2008-21, but he made the surprising decision to step down at the end of the 2020-21 campaign despite having two years left on his contract.
Carlisle, who subsequently took the Indiana Pacers‘ head coaching job, endorsed Kidd for the Mavs’ position Thursday, telling MacMahon:
“It’s hard to put an exact finger on it. It’s just a feeling that I had that it would be mutually beneficial. My hope is that Jason Kidd will be the next coach of the Mavs because he and [guard] Luka [Doncic] have so many things in common as players.
“I just think that it would be a great situation for Luka, and I think it would be an amazing situation for Jason. I’m the only person on the planet that’s coached both of those guys and that knows about all of their special qualities as basketball players. To me, that just would be a great marriage, but that’s just an opinion.”
During his tenure in Dallas, Carlisle posted a 555-478 record and led the Mavericks to the playoffs nine times. That included winning the NBA championship in 2011.
The Mavs went through a rough stretch that saw them miss the playoffs in three straight seasons, but Carlisle got them back to the postseason each of the past two years.
Although Dallas lost in the first round both times, they pushed the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-led Los Angeles Clippers to seven games this season.
The Mavericks look like a team on the rise, which is why it was such a shock when Carlisle decided to step away from a team that could potentially be a championship contender in the coming years.
There is no question that the main allure of the Mavs head coaching job is Doncic, who has quickly established himself as one of the best players in the game.
The 22-year-old has been named an All-Star in each of the past two seasons, and he is coming off a campaign that saw him average 27.7 points, 8.6 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting a career-best 47.9 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from deep.
In addition to Doncic, the Mavericks boast big man Kristaps Porzingis, who helps give Dallas one of the best inside-outside combos in the NBA.
If both Doncic and Porzingis continue to improve, and the front office is able to add some more pieces around them, the Mavs could be a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference for many years to come under Kidd.
Kidd has deep roots within the Mavericks organization, as he spent eight seasons with them as a player from 1994-97 and again from 2007-12. He was a big part of the Mavs team that won a championship under Carlisle in 2011 as well.
As an NBA head coach, Kidd has five seasons of experience with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks, going 183-190 with three playoff appearances and one playoff series win.
Kidd was an assistant under Frank Vogel with the Los Angeles for the past two campaigns, helping L.A. win a championship last season in that role.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban knows what he is getting in Kidd, and given his success as an NBA point guard, Kidd may be the perfect mentor for Doncic as well.
