Over the course of an 18-year Hall of Fame NBA career, Jason Kidd played against some of the all-time greats of the game from multiple generations. But ask Jason who was the best he ever played against and he doesn’t hesitate.
It was, without question to J-Kidd, Michael Jordan.
Jason and MJ crossed paths 11 times in the early stages of J-Kidd’s career and the twilight of MJ’s. Seven of those 11 times came when Michael was finishing out his career with the Washington Wizards. But as J recalls in the video below, MJ brought it every time.
“He was probably the hardest to guard, J-Kidd said, “because he was on stage each night and he brought it.”
Indeed as Jason remembers, MJ gave his Mavericks 36 points in their first matchup in Dallas, during his rookie season. What he doesn’t mention is that just over a week later Jordan matched that performance in another victory over the Mavericks in Chicago. Those two games were part of the Bulls’ historic 72-win season.
Michael “brought it” to the very end. In his final game against Jason — then with the Nets — on February 21, 2003, during his last season with Washington, No. 23 scored 46 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in an 89-86 Wizards win over Finals-bound New Jersey.
Of course, the record also shows that the final tally of their 11 matchups is:
J-Kidd 6, MJ 5.