Jason Kidd has surprisingly positive opinion on Mavs' season despite missing playoffs

This is not how most people would describe the season for the Dallas Mavericks.

Mar 7, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd reacts during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks had their season ended on Friday night with a 120-106 Play-In Tournament loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, falling short of the playoffs after making the NBA Finals last season. It has been as big of a roller coaster season as you will ever seen in the NBA.

Dallas started the season slowly, rebounded to go 11-1 from November 16th to December 7th, and then it all started going downhill when Luka Doncic went down with a calf strain on Christmas Day against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The injuries started to pile up, as Kyrie Irving missed a few weeks with a bulging disc in his back, Jaden Hardy went down with another sprained ankle, Dereck Lively II suffered a stress fracture in his ankle, and Maxi Kleber fractured his foot.

Those issues only compounded when Nico Harrison had the idiotic idea to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February in the middle of the night. That predictably created a negative atmosphere around the team, and that only confounded when Anthony Davis went down in his Dallas debut. The injuries continued to stack up after Davis, as Daniel Gafford sprained his MCL, P.J. Washington fought through sprained ankles, Kyrie Irving tore his ACL, Olivier-Maxence Prosper had wrist surgery, and Dante Exum fractured his hand.

And despite all of that turmoil, head coach Jason Kidd still called it an incredible season.

READ MORE: Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to Lakers to 'win now' and missed the playoffs

Apr 18, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd during the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

“Incredible season," Kidd said after the loss to Memphis. "When you look at the injuries that we've had, the change, for us to even be here playing in this game tonight, it's incredible.
It just shows the character of that group in that locker room, the fight, being prepared, moving on, you know, learning from our losses and also our wins. So an incredible season, with the change and injuries.
You know, some would say we shouldn't even be here. So give those guys in that locker room a lot of credit.”

An "incredible season" is not how many would describe it. It's understandable to want to give the players in the locker room credit for never giving up on the season, but they fell well short of the ultimate goal.

Klay Thompson was brought in to be the missing piece to a championship team, and there was a time in the season when that looked to be the case. Missing the playoffs is a failure for this team and it all falls on Nico Harrison.

READ MORE: Mavericks on wrong side of NBA history after missing playoffs

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