Jason Kidd will be the next Dallas Mavericks head coach, sources confirmed to NBC 5’s Newy Scruggs.
Sources also confirmed Nike executive Nico Harrison will also be hired as the Mavericks’ president of basketball operations.
The hirings come after former longtime head coach Rick Carlisle stepped down June 17 and former general manager and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson mutually parted way with the Mavericks on June 16.
Kidd, a former Maverick on the 2011 title team, has five years of head coaching experience. He got his first role at the helm of a team in 2013-2014 with the Brooklyn Nets, before spending four seasons as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks until 2018.
For the last three seasons, Kidd has been an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, helping the LA team win its championship in 2020.
Carlisle was recently hired as the head coach for the Indiana Pacers Thursday and endorsed Kidd for the Mavericks’ open head coaching job.
“”My hope is that Jason Kidd will be the next coach of the Mavs because he and Luka have so many things in common as players,” Carlisle said. “I just think that it would be a great situation for Luka, and I think it would be an amazing situation for Jason. I’m the only person on the planet that’s coached both of those guys and that knows about all of their special qualities as basketball players.”
The Mavericks drafted Kidd, a 10-time all star who led the league in assists 5 separate seasons, in 1994. He was traded shortly after in December 1996 to the Phoenix Suns before returning to Dallas in February 2008, where he spent five years with the Mavericks, including Carlisle and owner Mark Cuban.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported Harrison, a longtime Nike executive, “has been pursued for front office jobs by other teams” and “strong relationships with players throughout the NBA, including Luka Doncic.”
He joined Nike as a sales rep in April 2002 after playing collegiate basketball at Montana State University and overseas in Belgium, according to Carol Schmidt of MSU News.
Harrison was then named vice president of North America basketball operations for Nike in 2015. Nick DePaula of ESPN reported the executive was instrumental in Mavericks’ star Luka Doncic’s move from Nike to Jordan in 2019 and was Kobe Bryant’s “longtime sports marketing manager.”
