AT A GLANCE
• Jason Kidd is out as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks after five seasons.
• The move comes two weeks after Dallas hired Masai Ujiri as team president and governor.
• Kidd led the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals but finished with a 205 to 205 regular season record in Dallas.
• Ujiri said the franchise believes this is the right time for “a new direction.”
Jason Kidd Is Out As Coach Of The Mavericks, 2 Weeks After The Hiring Of Team President Masai Ujiri
Jason Kidd is out as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks after five seasons, marking the first major basketball decision under new team president and governor Masai Ujiri.
The Mavericks said Tuesday that the organization and Kidd had mutually agreed to part ways. Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard, remains tied to the franchise’s greatest moment after helping lead Dallas to its only NBA championship as a player in 2011.
As coach, Kidd’s time in Dallas included two deep playoff runs with Luka Doncic, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2024. But the franchise also missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, following a turbulent stretch that included the shocking trade of Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Masai Ujiri Says Dallas Needs A New Direction
The move comes two weeks after the Mavericks hired Ujiri, the former Toronto Raptors executive, to lead the organization.
When asked about Kidd’s future during his May 5 introduction, Ujiri did not commit to keeping him. He said he planned to speak with Kidd while evaluating every part of the team.
“As we evaluate the future of our basketball program, we believe this is the right moment for a new direction for our team,” Ujiri said in a statement. “We have high expectations for this franchise and a responsibility to build a basketball organization capable of sustained championship contention.”
Kidd did not respond to a request for comment.
Kidd’s Dallas Tenure Had Highs, Lows And A Finals Run
Kidd finished with a 205 to 205 regular season record with the Mavericks, a fitting number for a tenure defined by both promise and frustration.
His first season brought one of Dallas’ strongest postseason runs in years. The Mavericks upset the favored Phoenix Suns in Game 7 on the road during the second round before losing to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Golden State went on to win the NBA title.
The next season, then general manager Nico Harrison traded for Kyrie Irving, hoping to pair him with Doncic as one of the league’s top scoring duos. Injuries limited their time together, and Dallas missed the playoffs.
In 2023 to 2024, Doncic and Irving finally had a healthy postseason run together, pushing the Mavericks to the NBA Finals for the first time since Kidd helped Dallas win the title as a player.
Luka Doncic Trade Changed The Direction Of The Franchise
Nine months after that Finals run, Harrison stunned the NBA by trading Doncic to the Lakers. Dallas received Anthony Davis as the centerpiece of the deal, but the move quickly backfired.
Because of injuries, Irving and Davis played together for only two and a half quarters. Dallas missed the playoffs during the 2024 to 2025 season and again in 2025 to 2026.
Harrison was fired early in the 2025 to 2026 season after a slow start and with Davis injured again. Davis was later traded to Washington.
The Mavericks finished 26 to 56 despite strong play from Cooper Flagg, the 2025 No. 1 overall pick who went on to win Rookie of the Year.
Cooper Flagg’s Development Now Falls To A New Coach
Kidd had said he was looking forward to developing Flagg, but that responsibility will now belong to the next Mavericks coach.
Rookie of the Year, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, In Dallas. (Ellas Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Dallas becomes the fourth NBA team with a coaching vacancy, joining Orlando, Chicago and Portland. Portland was led by Tiago Splitter in an interim role this season. Since the regular season ended, Milwaukee has hired Taylor Jenkins and New Orleans brought in Jamahl Mosley.
Kidd also joins a growing list of recent NBA Finals coaches who are no longer with the teams they led to the league’s biggest stage.
Of the 12 coaches who have taken teams to the NBA Finals since 2019, seven are no longer with those clubs. That includes championship winning coaches Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, Mike Budenholzer and Michael Malone, along with Monty Williams, Ime Udoka and Kidd.
Kidd’s Coaching Career Continues Beyond Dallas
Kidd has a 388 to 395 record across nine plus seasons as an NBA head coach.
He became a coach immediately after retiring as a player, leading Brooklyn to the second round of the playoffs in the 2013 to 2014 season. He later moved to Milwaukee, where he was fired in the middle of his fourth season.
After that, Kidd spent two seasons as an assistant with the Lakers, including their 2020 championship run in the playoff bubble with LeBron James and Davis. He was then hired by the Mavericks.
Ujiri previously told reporters not to read too much into his noncommittal comments about Kidd’s future, noting that previous coaches lasted several years after he took over basketball operations in Toronto and Denver.
