Dallas makes another cut after Dončić's departure: Jason Kidd is no longer the Mavericks' coach
The Dallas Mavericks continued the organizational reshuffling that, in American basketball, is directly tied to the consequences of one of the most controversial trades in recent years: Luka Dončić's departure to the Los Angeles Lakers. On May 19, 2026, the club announced that it was parting ways with head coach Jason Kidd, and the decision was described in official communication as a mutual termination of cooperation. The Associated Press reported that Kidd was dismissed after five seasons on the Dallas bench, only two weeks after Masai Ujiri, the former head of the Toronto Raptors, joined the club as president and one of the franchise's executives. At a press conference on May 20, Ujiri said that the decision on Kidd's departure was his, that he made it after assessing the direction of the club, and that Dallas must move into a new phase.
The financial weight of the decision further emphasizes how deep the turnaround in Dallas is. According to data from the specialized portal Spotrac, Kidd had four years and more than 40 million dollars remaining on his contract at the time of his dismissal, while some American media estimated the amount at approximately 45 million dollars. For the Mavericks, that money does not burden the NBA salary cap in the way player contracts do, but it represents a serious business cost and shows that the new leadership was willing to pay a high price for a change of direction. The decision was made after a season in which the club once again missed the playoffs, while fan and public dissatisfaction did not subside even after the earlier dismissal of the main architect of the trade, Nico Harrison.
Dončić's trade remained the beginning of a crisis of trust
The center of the story remains the trade announced on February 2, 2025, when the Mavericks, Lakers and Utah Jazz completed a deal that sent Luka Dončić from Dallas to Los Angeles. According to the NBA's official announcement, the Lakers received Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, while the Mavericks acquired Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round draft pick. Utah received Jalen Hood-Schifino and two future second-round draft picks in the same trade. Although Dallas received one of the league's best-known big men, the very decision to give up a 25-year-old player around whom the team had built its identity for years caused a strong reaction across the NBA public.
At the time of the trade, the Associated Press reported that the deal was negotiated in secret and that it came as a surprise to much of the league. Dončić had been the face of the franchise in Dallas, a multiple-time All-NBA team member and the player who had previously led the club to the NBA Finals. In a sporting sense, the trade was evaluated through the question of whether Davis could immediately provide defensive stability and the experience needed to contend for a title. In a business and symbolic sense, the move opened a much deeper debate: why would a club give up on a global superstar in the prime of his playing years, and do so without a broader market competition that could have increased the return value of the transfer.
According to NBA.com, Harrison was under pressure from fans almost from the moment of the trade, and protest chants against him continued for months after the deal with the Lakers. In November 2025, Dallas announced that Harrison had been relieved of his duties as general manager and president of basketball operations. Ownership representative Patrick Dumont wrote in an open letter to fans that the results had not met expectations and that it was his responsibility to act. In the same message, he acknowledged that the previous months had had a deep impact on the club and the fan base, officially confirming that this was not just an ordinary change in the management structure, but an attempt to repair damaged trust.
Harrison left first, Kidd several months later
Nico Harrison was the most exposed name after Dončić's departure because, as the chief basketball executive, he endorsed the direction Dallas had taken. On November 11, 2025, NBA.com reported that the Mavericks had relieved Harrison of his duties after four and a half seasons with the club. At the time of his dismissal, Dallas, according to an Associated Press report carried by NBA.com, had a 3-8 record, and the pressure intensified because Anthony Davis, the central player the Mavericks received in the trade, had missed a large number of games due to injuries. The club then appointed Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi as interim heads of basketball operations.
Kidd remained on the bench briefly after Harrison's departure, but his position was no longer secure. According to NBA.com, the Mavericks had signed Kidd to a new multiyear contract in October 2025, although the terms were not officially disclosed at the time. Such a move then looked like an attempt at stabilization after a turbulent period, especially because Kidd held a strong place in the club's history: as a player, he was a member of the team that won the only NBA championship in Dallas history in 2011. As a coach, according to NBA data, he led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals in 2024.
But Masai Ujiri's arrival changed the balance of power at the club. The Associated Press reported that Ujiri said at a conference in Dallas that he had spoken with important people in the organization before making the decision, but that the ultimate responsibility belonged to him. Ujiri said that Kidd had played an important role in Mavericks history, but also that the new president of basketball operations must assess what is best for the future of the franchise. In doing so, Dallas, less than a year and a half after the Dončić trade, was left without the general manager who carried it out and without the coach who was supposed to lead the project built around Davis, Kyrie Irving and later Cooper Flagg.
The high contract price shows the scale of the change
The amount Dallas must pay Kidd became an important part of American reports because it shows that the decision was not a routine coaching cut. Spotrac, which tracks contracts, salaries and transactions in American professional sports, states that after his dismissal Kidd had four years and more than 40 million dollars in contractual obligations remaining. The New York Post, referring to the same financial circumstances, wrote that the move involved more than 40 million dollars left on the contract. In public reactions, that amount was often rounded and linked to an estimate of around 45 million dollars, which is why the decision resonated beyond the usual sports sections as well.
Unlike player contracts, coaching salaries in the NBA do not count toward a team's salary cap, but owners still have to pay them according to contractual terms unless the parties reach a different settlement. That is why Kidd's departure is above all a matter of business readiness to financially cover a mistaken or changed sporting direction. In a short period, Dallas first extended the coach's contract, then fired the man who designed the project, and then parted ways with the coach who was supposed to continue that project. In practice, this means that the club is paying the consequences of decisions made in the period after the 2024 Finals, when it seemed that the team was close to competing for a title.
The sporting result did not justify the risk
The Dončić trade was justified by the idea that Anthony Davis would bring the defensive toughness and experience needed for an immediate title push. However, according to NBA.com reports, Davis missed a significant number of games after arriving in Dallas, and the club did not get the continuity that was necessary for such a move to be defended by results. The Mavericks missed the playoffs after Dončić's departure, and the 2025/26 season brought new disappointment despite the arrival of young Cooper Flagg, the first pick of the 2025 draft and later winner of the Rookie of the Year award. In its report on Kidd's departure, the Associated Press stated that Flagg was supposed to be the central part of the new development cycle, but that he will now be led by a new coach.
Kidd's overall tenure cannot simply be reduced to failure. According to the NBA, he took over Dallas in 2021, helped stabilize the team and led it to two major playoff results. In the 2023/24 season, the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals, which was the peak of the era in which Dončić was the main player and Irving an important secondary creator. That is exactly why the decline after the trade was so visible. A club that had recently been a league finalist entered a series of decisions that raised questions about long-term strategy, relations with fans and the assessment of the value of its own superstar.
Ujiri takes over the search for a new coach
Masai Ujiri arrived in Dallas with the reputation of an executive who built a team in Toronto capable of winning a title, which the Raptors did in 2019. The Mavericks' official website announced in early May 2026 that Dumont and Ujiri had spoken for months before reaching an agreement and that the new president was arriving with the authority to shape the club's basketball direction. After Kidd's departure, according to the Associated Press, Ujiri stressed that the search for a new coach would be thorough and that Dallas must find a person aligned with the future plan, not merely a short-term replacement.
A key place in that plan belongs to Cooper Flagg, the player around whom the Mavericks want to rebuild their competitiveness. Kyrie Irving remains an important veteran name, but injuries and age require caution in every long-term projection. Dončić's departure, meanwhile, has remained a constant reference point for every new decision by the club. While the Lakers are building their era with one of the most recognizable European players in NBA history, Dallas is trying to explain its own turnaround and show that it can build a new core without the player it had presented for years as the face of the franchise.
Fan trust became as important as the result
In professional sports, such decisions rarely remain only a matter of tactics, contracts and rosters. Dončić's trade in Dallas grew into a crisis of trust because it affected the club's identity. According to Patrick Dumont's open letter, the Mavericks' leadership is aware that the past months were difficult for the fans and the organization. That wording is important because it shows that the club acknowledged a broader problem, even if it did not directly say that the trade was a mistake. Harrison's dismissal and Kidd's departure can therefore be read as an attempt to create a new beginning, but also as an admission that the previous plan did not withstand the test of results and public opinion.
For Kidd, a period ends in which he had one of the most visible coaching roles in the league. For the Mavericks, a new chapter begins in which Masai Ujiri must find a coach, define the roles of young and veteran players, and convince the public that the club has a clearer direction than it did at the moment it sent Dončić to Los Angeles. The financial obligation to Kidd, estimated at more than 40 million dollars and often rounded in public to approximately 45 million, will remain a symbol of the price of that turnaround. Even more important for Dallas will be the question of whether it can recover, both in sporting and reputational terms, from a decision that changed the face of the franchise in just sixteen months.
Sources:
- Associated Press – report on Masai Ujiri's decision to dismiss Jason Kidd and the press conference in Dallas (link)
- NBA.com – official announcement and agency report on Jason Kidd's departure from the Dallas Mavericks bench (link)
- NBA.com – official announcement of the trade involving Luka Dončić, Anthony Davis and other players between the Lakers, Mavericks and Jazz (link)
- NBA.com – report on Nico Harrison being relieved of his duties as general manager of the Dallas Mavericks (link)
- Dallas Mavericks – official announcement on Nico Harrison's departure from the organization (link)
- Dallas Mavericks / Patrick Dumont – open letter to fans on Nico Harrison's dismissal and the state of the franchise (link)
- Spotrac – data on Jason Kidd's contract and remaining financial obligations (link)
- NBA.com – report on Jason Kidd's contract extension with the Dallas Mavericks in October 2025 (link)