.jpg)
1 hour ago
3
Dallas Mavericks president Masai Ujiri revealed a new direction the team will go following the departure of Jason Kidd.
Ujiri spoke to the media on Wednesday and explained why he decided to go a different way regarding Kidd.
“I think a new slate was a good way to look at this," Ujiri said. "I feel sometimes in this organization, we needed clarity in where we're going, rather than sometimes lots of things in the mix. We need to literally work in one direction and how we build this team, how we create winning and that's kind of how I looked at it, just going forward and building winning.”
The Mavericks shockingly fired Kidd on Tuesday after five seasons at the helm. He had four years and more than $40 million remaining on his current deal.
Mavericks facing major questions after Jason Kidd era
When Ujiri was introduced as president of the team, he was noncommittal on whether Kidd would continue to be head coach.
"He's done a great job, but we are going to look at this thing from head to toe," Ujiri said. "That's the right way to look at an organization and evaluate in every single way we can."
Kidd's time with the Mavericks was certainly a roller coaster. While Dallas only made the playoffs twice under Kidd, they went as far as the Conference Finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals in 2024.
The Mavericks missed the playoffs the last two seasons, mainly due to injuries to their key players.
The 53-year-old head coach was drafted by the Mavericks in 1994 and played a crucial role in guiding the franchise to their first and only title in 2011. In his career, Kidd holds a 388-395 record, having begun his coaching career with the Brooklyn Nets in 2013, immediately after retiring as a player.
The Mavericks will now search for their 11th head coach in franchise history.
English (US)