Report: Mavericks hire Jason Kidd as next head coach, Nike's Nico Harrison as new general manager
The Dallas Mavericks have found Rick Carlisle’s replacement.
The Mavericks reached a deal on Friday to make Los Angeles Lakers assistant and former Dallas point guard Jason Kidd the franchise’s next head coach, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. The team also hired longtime Nike executive Nico Harrison as their next general manager.
Source: Mavs have officially agreed to terms with Jason Kidd to be their head coach and longtime Nike executive Nico Harrison to be the GM and run their basketball operations.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 25, 2021
Kidd and the Mavericks, per Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, agreed to a four-year deal.
Kidd emerged as the reported frontrunner for the opening on Thursday, just hours after Carlisle endorsed the Hall of Famer for the job.
Carlisle left the Mavericks last week after 13 seasons, and agreed to take over in the same position with the Indiana Pacers on Thursday morning. Longtime general manager Donnie Nelson also left the organization just one day before Carlisle’s departure.
“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 on Thursday. "I just think that it would be a great situation for Luka [Doncic], 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. To me, that just would be a great marriage, but that's just an opinion."
Kidd reportedly had the support of former Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki, who joined the team as an adviser earlier this month, and Harrison reportedly signed off on Kidd to take the job.
Kidd got his start in Dallas in 1994, when the team selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. He was the co-Rookie of the Year that season while averaging 11.7 points and 7.7 assists per game. The team, though, traded him less than two years later to Phoenix.
Kidd returned to Dallas during the 2007-08 season, and spent more than five seasons there while helping lead the Mavericks to their first and only NBA title alongside Nowitzki.
The 48-year-old led the Brooklyn Nets for a single season in 2013, and then spent four with the Milwaukee Bucks while compiling a 183-190 overall record as a head coach in the league. Kidd has spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kidd has been connected to a domestic violence incident in the past, something Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has vowed to steer the franchise away from after a string of high-profile incidents in recent years — which included sexual harassment and abuse allegations against former team president Terdema Ussery, the team’s former beat writer and another former front office staff member, among other things. Kidd pled guilty to assaulting his ex-wife in 2001.
Nico Harrison hired as next Mavs GM
Cuban also elected to replace Nelson as the team’s general manager on Friday with Harrison, a longtime Nike executive.
Harrison played collegiately at Montana State, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame there in 2016. He played professionally in Europe, and was then hired at Nike in 2002. He has served as an NBA representative there and worked the last several years as the company’s vice president of North America basketball operations. Harrison has long been connected to several open front office jobs across the league.
Harrison also played a role in helping Doncic shift from Nike to Jordan. The Mavericks reportedly hope that current vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley — who played in Dallas from 1996-05 and has served in their front office for the past seven seasons — will remain with the organization.
Nelson had worked with the Mavericks since his father, Don Nelson, served as the coach and general manager in the 1990s. He was responsible for drafting Nowitzki, trading for Steve Nash and helping land new star Luka Doncic.
Nelson’s split with the team was mutual, though it came just days after Cuban denied a report that there was tension and unrest between Doncic and a front office executive.
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