The Dallas Mavericks are in the middle of an intense playoff positioning battle in the Western Conference. As of Friday, March 29, the Mavericks are the sixth seed in the Western Conference. However, that could always change as we have about two weeks till the end of the regular season.
While the focus is on securing a top-six seed for the Mavericks, head coach Jason Kidd hopes to remain the head coach for the foreseeable future. According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, Kidd is ‘hopeful that he can secure an extension this summer.’ Kidd is currently under contract through the 2024-2025 season.
The 51-year-old coach was hired by the Mavericks in 2021. That season, he instantly led the team to their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2011, when the Mavericks won the title. In his first season as the Dallas head coach, the Mavericks finished as the West’s fourth seed with a 52-30, record but fell to the eventual champions Golden State Warriors in a five-game Western Conference Finals series.
Kidd played a vital role on that 2011 championship team as well. He wants to bring Dallas another championship alongside his two-headed backcourt monsters, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Last season did not go as planned as the team fell off the top ten in the West and eventually missed the play-in entirely. Kidd isn’t proud of that and will look for better results this postseason.
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The Mavericks have a roster on paper that allows them to compete with the best teams in the league. They have a mix of experience and youth with rookie Derrick Lively II, veterans Dante Exum and Derrick Jones Jr., and Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, who they traded for this past trade deadline. It’s the wild, wild West this season, and it’s up for grabs.
With Kidd at the helm, the Mavericks have the NBA‘s sixth-best offense with a rating of 117.9. Their defense isn’t anything to boast about, as they have a 115.8 rating. Jason Kidd-led teams never have the best defense, but boy, does he know what he’s doing on the offensive side of the ball.
The Mavericks are playing good basketball down the stretch, with a 9-1 record in the last ten games. They’ve won five games in a row, and if they continue this trend, they have a chance to possibly sneak into the top five in the West. If Kidd can lead this team into the top five and to another deep playoff run, the Hall of Fame player will be in Dallas for a long time.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.