The Jason Kidd era in Dallas is officially over. The Masai Ujiri era starts now, and the centerpiece is a 19-year-old who has not played a single NBA game yet.
The Mavericks announced Tuesday night that they are parting ways with Kidd after five seasons as head coach. The team called it a mutual decision, which is the language teams use when they want to avoid the word “fired.” The reporting since the announcement confirms what most people suspected. Kidd wanted to be promoted. New ownership and new front office leadership had other plans. Both sides decided it was easier to part ways than to make it work.
Kidd’s tenure is one of the more complicated coaching legacies of the past decade. His final record was exactly 205-205, an absurd statistical curiosity that captures the run perfectly. There was a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2022. There was an NBA Finals appearance in 2024. There was a 50-win team that lost Luka Doncic in February 2025 and then collapsed into a 26-win disaster the following year. Now he is gone.
The 2024 Finals run will be the defining accomplishment Kidd takes with him. Dallas was supposed to be a year early in that bracket. Kidd coached his way through Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and the upstart Timberwolves to reach the Finals against Boston. The Mavericks lost in five, but the run validated everything ownership had built around Doncic.
Then came the trade that changed everything. Nico Harrison shipped Doncic to the Lakers in February 2025 for Anthony Davis. Davis got hurt, was eventually flipped to Washington, and Dallas finished 26-56 last year. Harrison was fired in November. Kidd survived that purge, but only barely. With Patrick Dumont taking over as the new operating owner and Ujiri arriving from Toronto as team president, the franchise had a clear opportunity to clean slate the entire basketball operation. Tuesday’s announcement was that clean slate.
The Mavericks now have a remarkable hand to play. They just won the No. 1 pick in last week’s draft lottery, which means Cooper Flagg is heading to Dallas. Flagg is the most hyped American draft prospect since Zion Williamson, and the comparison ends there. He plays bigger, more skilled, and more polished than Zion did at the same age. He projects as a Day 1 starter for any team in the NBA.
Dallas also holds the No. 9 pick. That gives Ujiri two lottery picks and a roster that already includes Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, and a healthier Davis if he is back from his most recent injury saga. The rebuild does not have to be slow.
What it needs is a coach. The front office search is already underway, with multiple names on the early list. Ujiri’s history in Toronto suggests he wants a coach who can develop young talent while keeping veterans accountable. Dallas needs both. Flagg is going to get the keys, but the existing veterans expect to compete.
For Kidd, the next move is interesting. Reports out of Dallas suggest he is already on the Orlando Magic’s radar. Other openings could materialize this summer. He coached two Finals appearances in three years between 2022 and 2024. Somebody will hire him. The question is whether he wants a long-term head coaching gig or whether he angles for a front office promotion at his next stop.
Either way, the Mavericks are no longer his problem. Cooper Flagg is Masai Ujiri’s now.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
