The Dallas Mavericks’ decision to move on from Jason Kidd did not receive sympathy from everyone around the NBA.
Respected basketball writer Henry Abbott, the founder of TrueHoop and a longtime NBA journalist, delivered one of the bluntest public reactions after the Mavericks parted ways with Kidd following five seasons as head coach.
“I covered Jason Kidd when he played for the Nets,” Abbott wrote on X. “I know one of his childhood friends. I’ve been to his house, met his kids, then-wife, and Pilates Instructor. And I have insight from many people who worked with him in his coaching years. This is a great firing.”
I covered Jason Kidd when he played for the Nets. I know one of his childhood friends. I’ve been to his house, met his kids, then-wife, and Pilates Instructor. And I have insight from many people who worked with him in his coaching years. This is a great firing.
The comment quickly circulated because Abbott did not frame Kidd’s exit as merely understandable. He endorsed it.
That matters because Kidd’s firing is not a simple failure story. He helped guide Dallas to the 2024 NBA Finals and the 2022 Western Conference finals, but his tenure also ended with two straight missed postseasons, a new basketball operations boss in Masai Ujiri and a franchise still trying to recover from the Luka Doncic trade fallout. The Mavericks described the move as a mutual decision.
Abbott’s post was not the only viral reaction from someone with NBA ties.
Former NBA guard Michael Carter-Williams reposted another critical comment about Kidd and added: “I’ve been trying to tell people this for 10 years now… truth always prevails.”
That does not prove anything by itself. It does, however, show that Kidd’s coaching reputation remains complicated. He has long had supporters who point to his basketball mind, player development and ability to command a locker room. He also has critics who have questioned whether his leadership style wears well over time.
Abbott’s reaction cut through that debate because it came from someone who has covered Kidd across multiple stages of his basketball life. He did not offer detailed allegations in the post, and it should not be treated as reporting on a specific incident. But as a public evaluation from a veteran NBA voice, it added a harsher interpretation to a move the Mavericks framed more diplomatically.
Kidd’s Dallas resume is not thin. He went 205-205 with the Mavericks and 22-18 in the playoffs. His best season came in 2023-24, when Dallas reached the NBA Finals. He also coached the Mavericks to a 52-win season and the Western Conference finals in 2021-22.
That is why the firing is more significant than a standard coaching change. Kidd was not dismissed after years of irrelevance. He was removed less than two years after a Finals run.
The problem is what happened next. Dallas missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, and the organization’s post-Doncic direction became the defining question around the franchise. ESPN reported that the Mavericks went 136-87 with Doncic in the lineup under Kidd and 69-118 without him.
That split is brutal context for any evaluation of Kidd’s coaching tenure. It suggests the Mavericks’ best basketball under Kidd was still overwhelmingly tied to Doncic’s presence, even as the franchise later pivoted away from him.
Kidd’s connection to the Mavericks runs deep. He was drafted by Dallas, returned as a player and helped the franchise win its only championship in 2011. As a coach, he was part of the organization’s return to the Finals.
But his final stretch in Dallas was tied to instability: the Doncic trade, the missed playoffs, the firing of Nico Harrison and the arrival of Ujiri.
That is why Abbott’s “great firing” comment resonates, even for fans who respect Kidd’s better moments with the franchise. The Mavericks were not just choosing whether Kidd could coach. They were choosing whether he should remain one of the faces of a chaotic era they are trying to move beyond.
Kidd will likely get another look elsewhere. He has coached the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Mavericks, and ESPN lists his overall head coaching record at 388-395.
Dallas, meanwhile, gets a clean pivot point.
The next coach will inherit pressure, but also a rare opportunity: a new top executive, a young franchise star in Flagg and a fan base desperate for a steadier direction after one of the strangest stretches in Mavericks history.
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