The New York Knicks' coaching search is barely a week old and already there seems to be a strong focus on one coach, who isn't even available right now. There's been several reports suggesting that the Knicks are interested in current Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, with ESPN's Brian Windhorst saying Tuesday morning that "The Knicks absolutely would like to hire Jason Kidd to be their next head coach."
All of that hinges on Dallas' willingness to allow the Knicks to interview Kidd, and so far there hasn't been any strong indication that the Mavericks are leaning one way or the other. Marc Stein has reported that there's reason to suggest the Mavericks would say no if the Knicks formally inquire, and that the Knicks may not even ask at all. But none of that is exactly convincing evidence.
Consider what the Houston Rockets have done. The Knicks reportedly had interest in Ime Udoka and almost immediately as that rumor surfaced The Athletic's Kelly Iko reported that the Rockets statement was Houston has "no interest in entertaining that," and that "both parties are committed to the longterm project and are actively preparing for a busy offseason." The Rockets quieted the chatter before it could become the leading segment on every sports talk show. So why haven't the Mavericks?
For a team whose public statements have been nothing but overwhelmingly positive support by the front office and the players for Kidd, you would think that they'd have no interest in even entertaining the idea of having their coach be lured away by a team that just reached the Eastern Conference finals. Especially a Knicks team who the Mavericks have a complicated history with primarily due to the handling of Jalen Brunson opting to leave Dallas and join the Knicks as a free agent in 2022.
But this is the Mavericks, who have made nothing but odd decisions since the start of 2025, highlighted, of course, by the still-baffling move to trade franchise superstar Luka Dončić because, as Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has put it on a number of occasions, "defense wins championships."
Despite that though, Dallas has been on the upswing after lucking into landing the No. 1 overall pick and the rights to draft Cooper Flagg later this month. With Flagg as their golden egg going forward, the Mavericks' future looks much brighter than it did back in February when they traded Dončić, even if next season is likely a wash with Kyrie Irving expected to miss a significant portion with an ACL tear.
Kidd has even expressed the excitement about the possibilities going forward with "that kid from Duke" on the roster next season, and said his relationship with Harrison is "at a high" during an appearance on the DLLS Mavs podcast.
So if everything is so positive between Kidd and the Mavericks why prolong this? Why not just come out and say, thanks but no thanks to any team's interest in wanting to interview him. The Mavericks had no issue doing so last May when the Lakers came sniffing around after firing Darvin Ham. Dallas instead rewarded Kidd with a two-year contract extension while in the midst of what would eventually be an NBA Finals run. How is this situation any different from that if the Mavericks still believe Kidd is the guy to lead this team? No one knows the answer to that, but unless this is just one big troll job of the Knicks, the longer this drags out the worse it looks for the Mavericks, whose reputation has been in the gutter since trading Dončić.
And if all this chatter does ultimately lead to the Mavericks trading Kidd to the Knicks -- because that might need to happen if New York wants to hire Kidd -- then Dallas better make sure whoever the replacement for him is a significant improvement.
There's certainly a slew of available candidates with experience, as Michael Malone, Mike Budenholzer and Taylor Jenkins are out there. Or perhaps the Mavericks are looking at this as an opportunity to hit the reset button with the Flagg era about to begin and go with a first-time coach to lead this team. Current Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney would certainly fit that bill, and he was just a finalist for the Phoenix Suns lead gig. There's several other assistants the Mavericks could look at as well, it's just a matter of what they're looking for.
Maybe this ends up being nothing at all, and the Mavericks eventually put all this to rest and say Kidd is their guy going forward. But with all the reporting out there right now, and Dallas keeping quiet, it leads everyone to believe that there's at least a tiny possibility Kidd won't be the Mavs coach next season.
