Report: Mavs Hiring Jason Kidd as Next Head Coach

Kidd had two stints with the franchise throughout his playing career and was previously was the head coach of the Nets and Bucks.

The Mavericks have reached an agreement with Jason Kidd to make him their next head coach, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. 

Kidd, who had two stints with the franchise during his nearly two-decade playing career, has been an assistant coach with the Lakers since 2019. He previously was the head coach of the Nets and Bucks.

The 48-year-old Kidd had the support of team owner Mark Cuban as well as Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, among others involved in the hiring process, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. 

As Kidd prepares to take over as the team's head coach, the franchise is also hiring Nike executive Nico Harrison to lead their basketball operations department, according to The Athletic. 

Harrison, who has previously been pursued by other teams for front-office roles, has a strong relationship with numerous players around the league, the New York Times' Marc Stein reports. According to the Times, the team envisions having Harrison and vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley working side-by-side, with Nowitzki also a significant part of Cuban's reshaped brain trust.

Cuban and Harrison had in-depth discussions about the coaching candidates and identified Kidd as their target, per ESPN. 

Former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who was hired as the Pacers new coach on Thursday, strongly endorsed Kidd to be the next head coach of the Mavericks.

"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 a 183-190 record as an NBA coach. He left the Nets in 2014 after clashing with ownership about expanding his role in the organization. 

Critics of Kidd have also pointed to his 2001 arrest for hitting his wife, after which he pleaded guilty to spousal abuse. After a 2018 Sports Illustrated report detailed a culture of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within the Mavericks organization, Cuban pledged to take action.

“I want to deal with this issue,” Cuban told SI in 2018. “I mean, this is, obviously there’s a problem in the Mavericks organization and we’ve got to fix it. That’s it. And we’re going to take every step. It’s not something we tolerate."

Kidd also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in 2013, during his stint as Nets head coach.

The Mavericks finished the regular season fifth in the Western Conference and were eliminated in the first round by the Clippers, their second first-round postseason exit in two seasons.