Report: Ex-Cal Star Jason Kidd Reaches Agreement to Be Mavericks Head Coach
The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to terms with former Cal star Jason Kidd to be their head coach, ESPN reported Friday.
The Mavs also reached terms with Nike executive Nico Harrison to be their general manager.
Kidd had two stints as a player for the Mavericks, and he helped Dallas to the 2011 NBA title. He reportedly had the support of Mavericks consultant and former star player Dirk Nowitzki as well as others advising team owner Mark Cuban.
There were reports that Kidd had begun assembling his Mavericks coaching staff on Thursday.
Kidd, 48, had been an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers the past two years.
Rick Carlisle, who stepped down as the Mavericks coach and became the Indiana Pacers head coach, strongly endorsed Kidd for the job.
While telling ESPN that he will sign a four-year deal with Pacers, Carlisle also gave a strong endorsement for Kidd to be the next Mavericks coach.
"My hope is that Jason Kidd will be the next coach of the Mavs because he and Luka [Doncic] have so many things in common as players," Carlisle told ESPN. "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."
Kidd has not commented on whether he would be interested in the Mavericks' vacancy. He said earlier that he was not interested in the Portland Trail Blazers' head coaching vacancy after Blazers guard Damian Lillard said he wanted Kidd to be Portland's net head coach.
The Mavericks also parted ways with general manager Donnie Nelson earlier this month.
Kidd has a career record of 183-190 as a head coach. He coached the Brooklyn Nets in 2013-14 and the Milwaukee Bucks from 2014-15 to 2017-18. Kidd, who has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, has a 9-15 career playoff record, advancing to the second round in his lone season with the Nets.
Kidd played at Cal for two seasons -- 1992-93 and 1993-94. As a freshman he led the Golden Bears to a second-round NCAA tournament victory over two-time defending national champion Duke. As a Cal sophomore he averaged 16.7 points, 9.1 assists and 6.9 rebounds.
Kidd was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft and played 21 NBA season before being voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Cover photo of Jason Kidd by Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports
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