Mavericks have discussed Jason Kidd as head coaching candidate

Another day, another team that has been rumored to want to hire Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd. After being connected to the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic earlier in the week — and the Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers earlier this month — we now have our first report that Kidd will be considered for the open Dallas Mavericks head coaching job.

The report from Tim MacMahon of ESPN comes less than 24 hours after former Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle resigned, a resignation that came within a day of longtime GM Donnie Nelson’s own exit during an insanely turbulent week in Dallas.

Kidd has now been connected to five of the seven open head coaching jobs in the NBA:

As our own Sabreena Merchant and I discussed on our podcast yesterday — in which we ranked the available jobs by how appealing they likely would be to Kidd — the Mavericks opportunity is likely the best open job available. Not only is it the only team where Kidd wouldn’t be (at best) second choice behind Carlisle, but it also has the most clear upside by virtue of boasting arguably the best young player in the NBA in Luka Doncic, and where Kidd would have the advantage of not being Carlisle (thus making Doncic less likely to hate him).

Kidd is also a revered basketball figure in Dallas, a member of the organization’s only championship team and the only player that Carlisle thanked by name in his resignation letter other than Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki. With Nowitzki helping lead the Mavs’ searches, it is no surprise that his former teammate is going to get at least an early mention.

However, we should also note that with the organization’s relatively recent sexual harassment scandal, it would be an especially bad look for the Mavericks to hire someone with Kidd’s own legal history, which includes pleading guilty to spousal abuse in 2001.

Either way, as MacMahon’s report makes clear, it sounds like Kidd may have to wait this one out if he does indeed want the Mavericks job. They are going to hire a general manager first, and then whoever that person is will surely have thoughts on their eventual head coaching hire. But moving forward, if Kidd is going to depart the Lakers, this is an opening to keep an eye on for a variety of reasons. Frank Vogel should get some names ready for a Kidd replacement just in case.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.