Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd speaks to media ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Yeah, I’m excited. Um, we should all be excited. Um, first day of school, so, uh, everybody is is ready to go. Jason, what are some of the benefits of holding training camp in Vancouver? I think when you look at, you know, Vancouver, um, it’s a ways away from Dallas. Um, and so I think as a group, we always talk about the players, uh, being able to, um, you know, hang out. I think it gives the coaches the opportunity to hang out with the players um so we have each other um for a week um to you know and so we have a new coaching staff um pretty much new front front of the bench the continuity of the team um 13 of the 15 so we’re lucky in that way that these guys know each other but it gives us a chance to bond and so uh you know being able to practice there. Um, we’ll stay away from the two a days one a day, but it gives us a time to hang out uh in the morning or at have breakfast or have lunch or have dinner with the guys uh as coaches and then also for me uh to get to know some of the coaches. I’ve had the opportunity to work with with Frank and Phil and Mike um in LA and Drew and so uh the the opportunity to work with Jay and to hang out with JJ is a a brilliant mind and so I’m really excited about the opportunity of working with this coaching staff and this team. What are your memories of playing there as a player? Was a long time ago and so you talk about the Memphis Memphis or the Vancouver Grizzlies. And so, um, it was a long time ago, but I always enjoyed playing in Vancouver. I thought they had great fans. Um, and so they supported their team and so for us to be able to go there. Um, I think there’s a game, a preseason game being held there. So, it’s great to see basketball not just in um, Toronto, but in Vancouver. And so, um, but for most of these guys uh, that are going, there’s only a few coaches I think that have uh, participated actually, you know, coaching uh in Vancouver. So, I’m excited. It’s actually a homecoming for Jay. So, we look forward for Jay taking that he gets to pick up the bill for dinner. So, we’re excited about that. Jason, aside from Kyrie, are all your guys cleared for? Yeah, we’re excited. Um, as we all know, Kai is recovering from the ACL and so uh everybody’s able to participate uh in practice. Uh so, It’s an exciting time and hopefully we can continue to say that throughout camp. Jason, let’s talk about the process of putting together the staff and it’s rare that you have to replace the entire staff. It wasn’t that um you know when you look at putting the staff together, it wasn’t jump ship. This was opportunity for guys to u climb the ladder. And so when you look at the guys that left will be will be missed. Sweeney Duds and Alex. Alex gets the University of Utah job. Sweeny goes to San Antonio and and Duds goes to Denver. So, it’s a it’s a compliment that um you know, we must have been doing something right, not wrong. Um but then to have the opportunity to be able to get Frank and Jay uh who have been head coaches in this league that are champions um to be able to have that um here in Dallas. on this staff is is is big. And then to be able to get Popeye um someone that when I was a rookie I had the opportunity to play with um and his coaching career he is um won a championship and so when you look at that bench it’s it’s full of uh knowledge um to help our our group and I’m very excited about to have that opportunity. Um there’s a lot of, you know, I’ve worked with Frank roll reversal here a little bit. Um but I’m excited to have him. Um you know, as a teammate, you look at Jay and the things that he’s done this league um is incredible. Also, his just his international experience um when you talk about the Olympics and stuff. So, he’s full of basketball knowledge. So, I’m very excited about having this opportunity with this staff. Was it in the eye? Is it something that happened during last season, something that happened this summer? Yeah, when you talk I think he can probably answer it better, but from what I’m gathered, it’s uh when Gaff hit him and so u for him to, you know, and I’ll let him tell the story, but that was the incident that caused this um this injury and for him to have surgery. Jason, you got a really unique situation there with Cooper as a number picking a team loaded with veterans and you know win out expectations. How do you balance the emphasis on his development and letting him learn through mistakes versus you know trying to position this team be a playoff team to be in the best spot possible? Yeah, I think um when you look at Cooper’s situation, I think you couldn’t ask for a better situation when you talk about wisdom. um you have quite a few people who have been in in that seat um as coaches or as uh as players, as teammates. Um AD being one that’s gone through this, Kai has gone through this. And so uh for him to be able to um communicate with and understand, ask questions to his vets and for his vets to share their wisdom of how to uh handle different situations. as a coach, uh, being through, you know, what what’s coming for him. Um, and so I think the biggest thing is just for him to to be himself. We’re not asking him to carry, uh, the weight of the Dallas Mavericks. We’re asking him to be Cooper flag, and that’s pretty special. And so, um, I look at things a little bit differently. I think, uh, you guys have talked about two different timelines. We can only be in the moment and that’s just today, right? For us to get better and that’s not just for Cooper but coaches and players too. And so there’s only one timeline and we’re here to win and we truly believe that piece of the puzzle when you talk about Cooper can help us. You talked about him as a point guard. Uh obviously lean into that during summer league. How much do you anticipate him playing point and do you have a feel now for what the starting lineup will be? to work backwards. There’s no starting lineup, right? This is going to be competition. We’re going to embrace the competition and so that will figure itself out come se uh come October 22nd. We’ll let you know who starts then. Um we’re going to look at a lot of different combinations um from here to the 21st. Um and so I think um for that, you know, there are spots that are guaranteed, but there are some spots that are open. So, um, and we have, you know, a deep team. And so, I think when we talk about championships, um, or being a championship team, there’s got to be some sacrifice. Um, only five can start. But, as we know, we can learn from last year. Um, everyone will have an opportunity to start and hopefully that’s not the case uh with the injuries. But, there are times when there’s injuries, next man up. I think being will is a perfect example and I’ll talk to the team about that today is, you know, being ready and uh and understand being prepared. I thought we did a great job. I thought the coaches did a great job, but I thought the players did an incredible job because they played hard no matter who started and who played. And they all believed that we had an opportunity to win. We’re not going to win every game. We’re going to make some mistakes, but we’re going to learn from those mistakes and uh and put our best foot forward to win. Um, but I truly believe we we have a great group, a deep group that that can put a lot of pressure in a lot of different combinations. Um, as a coach, sometimes I might have the wrong group in, sometimes I might have the right group in. Um, but we’re going to get to to learn each other. Our our goal is to win. Um, and that’s to win today and to win tomorrow. Jason, we often ask you some reflective questions and you’re very focused on staying present in the moment. So before the season begins, what was the highlight of your offseason? Oh, highlight uh I had an incredible summer. Um started three weeks in Norway. Um I think they do it right. Um an incredible beautiful place. I think I saw every every few there is. Um uh understanding the nights are days. Um the light never gets dark. Um was great. Um, spent uh, two days in Copenhagen, which was incredible. Incredible city. Um, they all believe in bikes. Um, it would be incredible to see us ride bikes here in Dallas. Everybody drives. Um, and so I I had a a great uh time with my family. Um, got to play a little golf. Um, got to play with some cool in the Crew Cup. Will Hari is an incredible golfer. I was supposed to start with that. Um, but I’m going to end with that. Um, but I again, good to see uh I don’t know if you guys are into golf, but this weekend was incredible. I thought congrats to Europe winning the fire cup, but I thought Team USA showed a lot of fight. Um, and so that was that was cool. Um, what else did I get to do? That trip to Europe was was incredible. And then I just ended um all the vacation before this circus starts. Uh I was in Montana for the weekend. Um got to see another glacier which was it was beautiful and so got to do a lot of things outside. Oh yeah, thank you. One little thing, the Hall of Fame that team that went in, as I said, I was the the water boy. So I that one slipped my mind. So thank you Mike for bringing that to my attention. That was a great honor, by the way. I kind of downplayed that a lot, but I was very honored to be able to represent team USA, but also to be on that team with Kobe and LeBron was uh was really special to see that group with Coach K and Jerry. Uh I hadn’t seen Michael Red and Booze for a while, so it was good to see see those guys. We’ve seen the the videos and the all the upward uh trending uh talks about Kyrie. Can you shed some light on exactly how he’s going in his recovery? Now, you know, I don’t do well with me uh with the medical. I’m not a doctor. So, um when we do see Kai shooting, um can we just refrain from saying ahead of schedule? That’s bad reporting. Um I’m just giving you the answer to the test. Um he is doing quite well as we can see, but he’s not ahead of schedule. And so let’s not let’s not say that that’s that’s unfair to him and to the maths um because it’s not true. Now is he on schedule? It looks like it. And so a lot of the positive things are happening but to report that he’s ahead of schedule is is not is not fair. Coach, you talked about making uncomfortable. Yes. Go ahead. That because you asked that question too about point guards. So now I’ll come back to that. Yes. Okay. Well, this this is just making him uncomfortable in in general. How was that going so far? What’s your assessment? And how much more uncomfortable you plan on making him training? I thought he did an incredible job with being uncomfortable. Um, and we told the world that he was going to handle the ball. Um, and yes, he was tired and yes, he had a turnover and yes, he made some great plays and I thought he handled the situation as well as the 18-year-old can handle it. Um, he has a talent to to about winning. He is in his DNA and so uh it would be unfair not to make him uncomfortable and so I think he handled that this summer extremely well knowing that going to be pressed. Um, but he gives us something that if he is pressed and he can beat it, it makes the offense so much easier for everybody else because he’s a willing passer and his IQ is extremely high. So, we’ll we’ll continue to look at that. You know, him having the ball. Um, the more playmakers that we have on the floor, the game becomes beautiful. It becomes easier. Um, there’s a lot of guys that can handle the ball. We talk about it with PJ, um, AD. Um, We’re going to look at at him being able to handle the ball. I you know point guard, you can call it that, but when you look at today’s game, how many positions are there? And so I think that’s that’s the thing is, you know, he can play every position. Uh I tend not to label our players as point guards or centers. Dive, yes, he’s a center, but I think um it’s it would be unfair not to challenge Cooper, again, he’s 18. He’s going to make mistakes, but also he’s going to put us in a position to win. And so, um, to answer your question about point guard, he can bring the ball, you know, up off a off of make. Um, it becomes a flow, you know, um, offensively. And so, I I think it just makes the game easier when you can have multiple guys that can dribble um, and who can pass. And so that’s just something that we just haven’t had. You know, we’ve always relied on two people maybe to to bring the ball, but now AD, you know, at the four um or five um can can bring the ball if you want to talk about positions. And so uh you know, just understanding that Cooper has a dynamic and skill set that um that can help this team. Okay. Thank you guys. Face.
