A new report suggests that the Luka Doncic trade may have created a rift between Dallas Mavericks management and head coach Jason Kidd.
The Mavericks absolutely stunned the basketball world in February when they did the unthinkable. They traded 26-year-old superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The deal seemed to catch Kidd off guard, and it looks like the move has damaged the relationship between him and the front office, led by general manager Nico Harrison.
Related: Dirk Nowitzki ‘completely turned off’ by Dallas Mavericks, Nico Harrison after Luka Doncic trade
“While Kidd was understandably frustrated this season with the team’s injury crisis, he also resented the front office’s midseason Luka Doncic trade, multiple team and league sources say,” according to Tim Cato of All Dlls. “Even if he shared some of Harrison’s frustrations with Dončić that led to the trade.
“That Kidd felt he had been asked to reinvent what had been a roster built around one specific star, team and league sources say, led to the midseason exasperation that notably culminated in him skipping a league-mandated post-game press conference in February.”
Jason Kidd record (Mavericks): 179-149
Kidd famously looked shell-shocked during the presser following the blockbuster trade that sent Doncic to LA and brought in 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, he never got to see what Harrison envisioned because the team was snakebit healthwise following the trade.
Davis suffered a serious abductor injury in his Dallas debut. Then, fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending ACL tear weeks later. While they reached the Play-In, it was a disastrous finish to the season. And it creates a very different outlook for the team as they go forward with a pair of injury-prone stars.
Related: Dallas Mavericks facing nine-figure revenue loss after Luka Doncic trade