To hear Kyrie Irving tell it, a player-coach relationship with Jason Kidd has been years in the making. The Dallas Mavericks are glad it has finally come to fruition.
Speaking after another dominant performance on Friday (30 points, 11-19 FG, 5-9 3PT, 6 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 2 BLK) to help the Mavs advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs, Irving noted that when he was a young player, the Milwaukee Bucks, then coached by J-Kidd, made a play to trade for Irving, then a Cleveland Cavalier.
The trade ultimately fell through, but through mutual acquaintances and brand partners, J-Kidd and Kyrie connected anyway and the younger Irving has long looked at Jason as a mentor or “big bro.”
“I always heard stories about him from my conditioning coach and he would just tell me similarities and also some of the differences that we had, and if I ever got a chance to play for him that would be kind of the first person I wanted to go all out for,” Irving said. “We had some communication behind the scenes. But it was very sparse and it was just a big brother-little brother type of thing.”
In addition to sharing a strength and conditioning coach, and a birthday, they have bonded over their unique but similar journeys to the NBA, a mutual love of the game and, as point guards, the chess match therein.
“It’s not too often you get to share a birthday with somebody, also a former top pick in the NBA, somebody that has won a championship before, as a player and also as an assistant coach. He has so much wisdom to offer, but I think he appreciates those that are curious about getting more out of their potential. That’s what we’ve connected on,” Irving said. “Not on the court stuff, but just as a person, how do you get the best out of yourself? He’s been through a lot. I’ve been through a lot. I’m obviously younger, but he knows I have an older soul. I grew up around a lot of older people. That’s how I came into the league, I think that’s how he came into the league too, in an era that was a little bit different. We just have an appreciation for the classic basketball game, who taught us it and how we got better, and did we get the most out of our game.”
When the Mavericks traded for Irving last season, the two connected instantly.
“He does call me Big Bro. It’s just respect. I think there’s a lot of parallels between us,” Jason said. “He’s as good as they come. He’s real. He has the ability to talk about multiple subjects, [it] doesn’t have to be just basketball, and that’s pretty cool. I think that he can relate to or get on the level of a lot of people who might want to talk about different things.”
Despite the connection between the coach and point guard, the immediate results admittedly weren’t prosperous. At the time of the trade Dallas was 28-26. They went on to win just 10 of their final 28 games and miss the postseason. But Irving recognized the potential of the relationship enough to ink a long-term deal in Dallas.
“That is probably why I signed the contract that I did because it gives us flexibility as a team,” Irving said. “Also, I’m with people that I’m familiar with and they love the game as much as I do in a way that I can continue to grow as a man and as a player.”
Now, both he and the Mavericks are thriving, and Kyrie credits a lot of that to Jason’s mentorship.
“Now he gets to live [through] me a little bit. We have different games. But I just know when I look at him he has that understanding of high-level chess, and when you have a coach like that who reassures you, reinforces that you’re doing the right things, it goes a long way,” Irving said. “I definitely feel like we’re on the same wavelength as well and we’re just proving it every day and just continuing to put one foot in front of the other and take it step by step. It took me a while. I think when I was a young player, too, I would’ve liked to be coached by him. Milwaukee had a chance to trade for me, and it;s just how things work, synchronicity works in this league. You just never know how things are going to happen. It took us like seven years to show what we’re doing now.”
After a rocky first-half season in Dallas, Irving has starred for the Mavericks during the 2023-24 season, particularly in 2024. Since his return from an injury on January 1, Irving has played in 47 of Dallas’ 55 games. From that date through the end of the regular season he averaged 26.7 points and 5.1 assists per game. In the six-game series against the Clippers he posted 26.5 points per game, including monster efforts in Game 4, (40 points) and Game 6 (30 points) to help Dallas even and eventually close out the series.
“From the outside, you look at his calmness, he’s at peace,” Jason said. “And sometimes at a certain age in life, that comes about. But also, with the people he’s around maybe . . . that could also have something to do with it. But you can see, he’s smiling, he’s happy and he’s been that way, I think, since he arrived last year at the trade deadline. I thought you saw that he was happy and at peace. And he’s been very consistent with that to this point. I think he’s just happy.”
Irving agrees and after some tough years personally in Cleveland, Boston and Brooklyn, the 32-year-old believes he has found the right place to continue his Hall of Fame career.
“They’ve been around the greatest of all time,” he said. “J-Kidd has coached some of the greatest of all time. He played with some of the greatest of all-time. So, for me as a young player, that’s all I’ve ever wanted was that mentorship and guidance. I didn’t want to be lost out here to the lifestyle, to the distractions, to a lot of the unrealistic expectations and the pressures that you put on yourself. So, yeah, I’m thankful I have Nico and J-Kidd in my life … I’m a man now. So, I have kids. I have a wife. I have a relationship with God. I have relationships with people around me that are genuine and it’s not built on who I am as a player. So, I’m appreciative that I’ve been able to show that maturity and be able to live out my dream that I had when I was in fourth grade. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, was to be around some good people and be one of the greatest of all time.”