Jason Kidd won’t return as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks

Jason Kidd (Caleb Williams, Wikimedia Commons)

The Dallas Mavericks will not have Jason Kidd of San Francisco, California as their head coach for the 2026-27 National Basketball Association season and beyond according to Mette Robertson of Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. The Mavericks have made some substantial changes in recent weeks. They include bringing on president Masai Ujiri of Bournemouth, England and general manager Mike Schmitz.

Kidd had been a NBA head coach for a decade. He was with the Brooklyn Nets for one season (2013-14), the Milwaukee Bucks for four seasons (2014-2018), and the Dallas Mavericks for five seasons (2021-26).

Kidd’s overall record as a coach is 388 wins and 395 losses for a winning percentage of .496. His finest NBA season as a coach came in 2023-24, as the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics.

This past season was a mighty struggle for Dallas with Kidd as the head coach. They had a record of 26 wins and 56 losses for a winning percentage of .317.

The Mavericks have simply gone downhill since trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on February 2, 2025. At the time, Mavericks management was very high on Anthony Davis, who the Mavericks received in the trade, and who has subsequently been traded to the Washington Wizards. There was a genuine feeling within the Mavericks organization that the franchise needed a complete clean slate, and that included Kidd no longer being the Mavericks head coach.

Ujiri has won the NBA Finals in the past. He was the mastermind of the Toronto Raptors team that won the NBA Finals in 2019. Schmitz was the assistant general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers.