In the immediate aftermath of the Dallas Mavericks' stunning decision to trade five-time All-Star Luka Doncic, general manager Nico Harrison, in a news conference, told reporters that Mavericks coach Jason Kidd did not know about his intention to facilitate the deal. And while Kidd's initial reaction to the trade was one of shock, Harrison indicated that he and his coach were in alignment thanks to prior conversations about "types of players" they like.
But, it seems that Kidd wasn't too pleased with the decision months later, as he tried to keep the Mavericks' train on the tracks amid a wave of injuries and public outrage from Dallas fans.
Kidd "resented" the Mavericks front office and Harrison for the decision to trade Doncic, sources told Tim Cato of DLLS Sports.
"While Kidd was understandably frustrated this season with the team's injury crisis, he also resented the front office's midseason Doncic trade, multiple team and league sources say, even if he shared some of Harrison's frustrations with Doncic that led to his trade of him," Cato wrote.
"That Kidd felt he had been asked to reinvent what had been a roster built around one specific star, team and league sources say, led to the midseason exasperation that notably culminated in him skipping a league-mandated post-game press conference in February."
After a February loss to the Sacramento Kings in which the Mavericks lost another big man due to injury, Kidd elected to skip the postgame press conference. He later explained that he needed time to "regroup." Dallas's injury situation only worsened, as star guard Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending knee injury in March. The situation became so bleak later that month that some NBA insiders feared forfeits would soon be on the table, due to the sheer number of injuries and Dallas's roster-building crunch. And all the while, the Mavericks continued to take heat from fans and pundits for the decision to trade Doncic, deemed by many to be a franchise cornerstone.
Given the stress of managing that situation, it's no wonder that Kidd would be on edge. And developing a resentment about the Doncic trade is understandable, especially if Kidd wasn't initially a part of the thought process.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jason Kidd 'Resented' Nico Harrison's Decision to Trade Luka Doncic, per Report.
