Kidd, Jason

Jason Kidd, in full Jason Frederick Kidd, byname J-Kidd, (born March 23, 1973, San Francisco, California, U.S.), American professional basketball player and coach who is considered one of the greatest point guards in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. When Kidd entered the NBA in 1994, he immediately became one of the most gifted and respected point guards in the game. His ability to see the floor and pull off dazzling passes made him one of the sport’s brightest young stars. However, Kidd—who was defined so clearly early on in his career—never stopped evolving. By the time he retired in 2013, Kidd was much more than just a clever passer. He racked up rebounds with such regularity that the triple-double (double figures in any three statistical categories, most often points, rebounds, and assists) became his signature. His outside shooting, once an object of ridicule, had been completely overhauled, making him one of the league’s most accurate long-range threats. The cavalry leader had given way to a wise floor general.

Kidd was a product of Oakland, California—a West Coast standout at a time when New York City ruled basketball. He blazed through the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the University of California at Berkeley and was selected with the second pick of the 1994 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. After two years in Dallas, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns, where he cemented himself as a perennial All-Star and a standout defender. Kidd’s true value, however, became most apparent in 2001, when the Suns dealt him to the New Jersey Nets. Kidd helped engineer one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the league’s history, taking the long-moribund Nets to consecutive NBA finals in his first two seasons with the team (losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs in 2002 and 2003, respectively).

Kidd was traded back to the Mavericks during the 2007–08 season and then spearheaded the 2008 “Redeem Team” that brought an Olympic men’s basketball gold medal to the United States after the national team failed to capture gold at the previous Games (he also had won an earlier gold medal in 2000). By this time, his advancing age was showing: his blistering first step was long gone, as was his ability to stick with any guard in the league on defense. But Kidd, whose intelligence had always been his hallmark, undertook the unlikely task of becoming a legitimate shooter. When the Mavericks went on their improbable 2011 title run, it was in large part due to their three-point snipers. Outside of franchise player Dirk Nowitzki, Kidd was arguably the most important contributor to the team’s championship.

After a disappointing 2011–12 season in Dallas, Kidd signed with the New York Knicks, with whom it became apparent that the ride was over. He helped the team get much better, but on the floor he was running out of gas. It was time to transition, seamlessly, to coaching: he retired after one season with the Knicks and became the Nets’ head coach days later. Kidd finished out his career third all-time in career triple-doubles as well as second in both assists and steals. His 19-year career was equal parts flash and substance, a legacy to which young point guards coming into the league aspire. That Kidd was able to adapt to his advancing age and still help teams win was a testament not only to his skill but to the selfless drive to make those around him better.

After one tumultuous season of coaching the Nets, Kidd sought control of the team’s basketball operations only to see his advances rebuffed by upper management, who then traded his coaching rights to the Milwaukee Bucks. Kidd was successful early on during his Bucks tenure, taking young and versatile Milwaukee squads to the play-offs in two of his first three seasons with the team (with both appearances ending in first-round eliminations). However, his failure to build a consistent winner around emerging superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and his unusual in-game strategy frustrated both fans and Bucks management, and he was fired in the middle of the 2017–18 season. Later in 2018 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The following year Kidd was named an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, and in 2020 the team won the NBA title. In 2021 he became head coach of the Mavericks.