Mavs Rumor: Coach Jason Kidd Never Approved Christian Wood Trade

Now that Christian Wood has left the Dallas Mavericks and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, one rumor gives some possible insight into why he never quite got along with Jason Kidd.

Dalton Trigg | Sep 9, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

When attempting to assemble a championship-level team, chemistry can be just as important as overall talent … and that goes for coaches’ relationships with players as well.

Things didn’t go according to plan for Christian Wood after he was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Dallas Mavericks last summer. Although he had some bright spots for Dallas throughout last season, he never could carve out a consistent role in head coach Jason Kidd’s rotation. According to a recent rumor from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, we might be getting some extra insight into why Wood and Kidd were never able to hit it off.

“Straight up, Jason Kidd did not want Christian Wood,” MacMahon said on the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst. “That trade was made without J-Kidd signing off on it.”

After a failed season that resulted in the Mavs not making the postseason for the first time since Luka Doncic’s rookie campaign in 2018-19, Dallas opted not to even bother trying to re-sign Wood in free agency this summer. Instead, Wood ended up signing a two-year veteran’s minimum deal with the Los Angeles Lakers a few days ago, and he threw some shade at Kidd on his way out of Dallas.

"I've always wanted to be a Laker. I know we can win a championship," Wood told Andscape. "Communication with a coach is a big key. Coach [Darvin] Ham and I go back to our Milwaukee days, and we've had great conversations everyday about this opportunity. He believes in me and told me I'll be playing a big role and knows what I can do. I'm looking forward to this, and [I'm for sure] motivated after what Dallas did."

No matter what differences Kidd and Wood had, the slate has been wiped clean for both of them heading into the 2023-24 season. The Mavs and Lakers have had some highly-exciting matchups over the last few years, and this drama certainly adds another interesting wrinkle into the mix.

Published Sep 9, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.