Pelicans expected to ‘circle back’ on previous head coaching candidates, including Jason Kidd

The NBA lost its goddamned mind on Wednesday, and amidst all of that madness, the New Orleans Pelicans fired their head coach, Stan Van Gundy, after just one season.

The Pelicans aren’t the only team with a head coaching vacancy — they’re not even the only team that fired their head coach after one season. Earlier this month, the Indiana Pacers relieved Nate Bjorkgren of his head coaching duties following his first season.

But the Pelicans’ head coaching position is definitely one of the more appealing jobs in the NBA because they have two young superstars in Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, and the assets to pull off a blockbuster trade, or something close to it. Surely, there will be no shortage of free agent head coaches angling for the job in the coming months.

Before the Pelicans start interviewing new candidates, though, they’re reportedly going to re-visit some of the names they spoke to last summer, including Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd.

Kidd was one of the first people to be linked to the Pelicans gig when Alvin Gentry was fired in August 2020. As a matter of fact, Kidd was named a candidate the very same day Gentry was fired. The devil works hard, but Kidd’s agent works harder.

Kidd obviously didn’t get the job — he wasn’t even one of the reported finalists — but there was clearly some level of mutual interest there, so it will be interesting to see if Kidd gets more serious consideration this time around. If not, there’s at least two more teams that reportedly have interest in him: the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics.

From a basketball standpoint, those teams aren’t close when it comes to talent, but in terms of cool places to live, Kidd could be doing a lot worse for himself. Other than the Celtics, obviously.

That being said, this surely all ends with Kidd going back to the Milwaukee Bucks — a team he went 139-152 with — after another disappointing postseason run because Giannis Antetokounmpo loves him and also because time is a flat circle and nothing matters.

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