Despite a catastrophic end to the season and a still uncertain place in the Play-in Tournament, Dallas does not seem to want to change its thinking heads. Mavs owner Mark Cuban has confirmed Jason Kidd on the bench for next season.
Dallas is playing for its survival in these last days of the regular season. The plan is simple: win the last two games and hope OKC wins one or none. If so, then the Mavs will finish tenth and they can play the Play-in Tournament and possibly the Playoffs in the event of a double-win.
Whatever happens (apart from an improbable run in postseason), we will have to expect a hectic offseason with the Kyrie Irving file to spice up the Texas news a little (a lot). Free agent this summer, the leader can leave Dallas without asking permission, which would be a big snub for the franchise, a year after the departure of Jalen Brunson.
For the rest, we can expect the team to seek to get their hands on defensive profiles, both outside and in the racket. And to lead these 2024 Mavs? Always Jason Kidd obviously. One could have imagined that the end of the freewheeling season of his team would have weakened the status of the Hall of Famer on the bench. It is not so. Mark Cuban assured Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News that Kidd would still be in the role in 2023-24.
“Jason Kidd is absolutely” Mavs coach going forward, Cuban says.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) April 5, 2023
The owner still seems to have confidence in his technician, who led the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals last year. A year later, the results are clearly less flattering with a provisional eleventh place, which would push Dallas to watch the Playoffs from the sofa if things remained there.
Why keep Kidd then? Perhaps because he would have to be paid his last two years of contract in the event of dismissal or quite simply the management believes that with a better balanced workforce, the former Nets star can lead Luka Doncic and company to the end. promised land. No offense to many Mavs fans, we should see Mister Triple-double on the bench at the American Airlines Center at the start of the school year.
Source : Dallas Morning News