Jason Kidd has been a maligned coach throughout his coaching tenure as stops with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks did not end well. He admitted to ESPN’s Tim McMahon that he was still learning how to coach and really learned how to put it all together when he was part of Frank Vogel’s LA Lakers staff, where they won a championship together. Now in charge of the Dallas Mavericks with a number of high-profile personalities, Dallas believes they have the perfect coach for their situation.

McMahon talked about a lot of things in Thursday morning’s piece about Kidd, but the biggest revelation was how revered he is by his players and how that puts him in a unique situation to lead the Mavs.

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Kyrie Irving had a disappointing end to his tenure with the Boston Celtics and Nets and was seen as a toxic locker room character. When the Mavs traded for him for pennies on the dollar, no one thought it would work out well and that Luka Doncic would soon ask for a trade.

By all accounts, Irving has been a model teammate, and a lot of that has to do with his relationship with Jason Kidd, one of Irving’s favorite players growing up in New Jersey. According to McMahon, while with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Irving sought out Kidd for dinner in Phoenix, during which Irving asked every question he could think of.

“Kai is a special guy,” Kidd told ESPN’s Tim McMahon. “He wants to understand the game at the highest level, wants to be pushed to the highest level. And I don’t think he’s afraid of failure. When I say fail, lose or miss an opportunity, but we’ll be back and there I have to of learning. Kai wants to be coached. Kai wants to be helped to win a championship.”

The two brain keepers bonded afterward, with Irving even attending Kidd’s Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony, and this has been a big reason why Irving has had success in Dallas.

Assistant coach Jared Dudley, who played for Kidd in Milwaukee, praised the way Kidd handled the situation, telling McMahon, “I’ll be honest with you, there’s only two or three coaches in the league that have the cachet and have the personality. to be able to coach Luka and Kyrie at the same time and not have any problems… You’ve heard all about Kyrie in the last few places he’s been. You haven’t heard anything since he got to Dallas. Do you think that is so? Dallas, or do you think 80% has to do with Jason Kidd?”

That relationship with Irving and rebuilding his image was a big reason why the team was able to convince Klay Thompson to leave the Golden State Warriors and come to Dallas. They let Kyrie Irving be himself, and after a stressful few years in the Bay Area, Thompson believes the same will happen for him.

With the season starting Thursday night against the San Antonio Spurs, expectations in Dallas haven’t been this high in a long time, and a lot of credit goes to Kidd for managing the superstars the way he has.

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