‘Disciplined search’ underway for new coach

By Josh Ortega

There is once again more shakeup in the Dallas Mavericks front office. Last week, the Mavericks announced the mutual separation between the team and Head Coach Jason Kidd. Weeks after filling its President of Basketball Operations and General Manager roles, Dallas now begins its comprehensive search for its next head coach with Kidd’s departure. In a statement after the move, Mavericks President of Basketball Operations and Alternate Governor Masai Ujiri thanked Kidd for his impact on the organization while citing the move as a pivot in line with the high expectations of the franchise. 

“As we evaluate the future of our basketball program, we believe this is the right moment for a new direction for our team,” said Ujiri. “We have high expectations for this franchise and a responsibility to build a basketball organization capable of sustained championship contention. We will conduct a thorough, disciplined search for our next head coach and continue to evaluate our entire basketball operations staff to ensure we compete at the standard Mavs fans expect and deserve.”

When looking back on Kidd’s time, five seasons in Dallas were full of peaks and valleys after being hired in 2021, fresh off winning an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 as an assistant. Kidd had big shoes to fill, replacing the franchise leader, Rick Carlisle, in coaching wins. Carlisle spent 13 seasons with the Mavs, famously delivering both the city and franchise its first NBA Championship title in 2011 with Kidd on his roster as a player. 

In his first season, Kidd led the Mavericks to a 52-30 record, reaching the Western Conference finals for the first time since Dallas had won a championship in 2011. The Mavericks eventually fell to the Golden State Warriors, who would go on to win the NBA Championship that season. Ultimately, despite losing a step away from the NBA finals, the sentiment surrounding Kidd’s first season was very high. However, Kidd’s second season was a stark contrast from his first.

Dallas missed the postseason for the first time in five seasons after starting the season hot, climbing as high as fourth place in the West by February. It was in the same month Dallas made a blockbuster trade to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a multitude of picks, along with Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith. With Irving headed to Dallas, the expectation was that the move to bring another prolific scorer alongside Luka Dončić would help Dallas get over the top to the finals, as they had almost done a year ago. 

However, with the move also came a gutting of a portion of the core roster, predictable scoring for opposing defenses, while highlighting a lack of adjustments. Just two months after being the fourth seed in the West, Dallas saw itself eliminated from playoff contention in a short amount of time. 

It was in the 2023/24 season that everything came together for Kidd and the Mavericks. 

Kidd led Dallas to its first NBA Finals appearance since he was a part of the team that made and won an NBA Championship as a player 13 years earlier. After starting the season among the top of the West, the Mavericks finished as the fifth seed heading into the postseason. 

The Mavericks ran through a majority of the West to reach the finals, knocking off multiple teams in four games throughout different series. In combination with Luka Dončić’s incredible postseason performance, Dončić became only the second player in NBA history to finish the playoffs as the overall leader in total points, rebounds and assists. Dallas would fall to the Boston Celtics in the finals, short of reaching the franchise’s second-ever NBA Championship. Once again, a familiar feeling surrounded the Mav’s that, despite falling short of another championship, the team had seemingly all the pieces in place to reach the pinnacle of the NBA once again. 

Hindsight is 20/20, and 706 days since the Mavericks’ season ended at the TD Garden that summer, Dallas has been trying to reach that point ever since. Kidd’s now penultimate season was unforgettable for Mavericks fans beyond just the basketball being played on the floor.

Dallas finished 39-43 a season after making the finals with the biggest moment of the season came the trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a three-team trade that Dallas acquired Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round draft pick. The move fared to be more head scratching as time went on in combination with major injuries to Irving and eventually Davis, which left them sidelined for the rest of the year. The Mavs never recovered. 

Kidd’s Dallas tenure ended with his worst win total with a full 82 games as a Head Coach. Dallas won 26 games in his final season, with the lone bright spot being 2026 Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, now the face of the franchise after a great rookie year. 

Kidd came so close to reaching the same heights he did as a player for the Mavericks during his tenure as Dallas’ Head Coach. Who fills his seat on the touchline is still to be determined at the time of writing, but will they be the person to bring a second Larry O’Brien trophy to the Metroplex as a part of the new vision by the Mavs’ front office?