As he takes over for the Dallas Mavericks, Jason Kidd is taking some time to react to the negative anecdotes from his previous head-coaching job.
Kidd responded this week to the rather unflattering stories about him that were recently published in Mirin Fader’s best-selling book, “Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP.” The book, a biography of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, alleged that Kidd engaged in abusive coaching methods while in Milwaukee.
“Did Giannis write it?” Kidd told Yahoo! Sports’ Mac Engel in response. “I’m waiting for Giannis for when he writes it. I’m aware of [the book], but if it’s not from Giannis, I won’t pay attention to it. That book or whatever everyone wants to make a big deal about … I mean, he didn’t write the book.
“We helped build [the Bucks].” Kidd went on. “There are no feelings about it because it was not Giannis’ book. The cool thing is my relationship with Giannis goes beyond basketball. I talked to him a couple of hours after his son was born. Cool little name, ‘Maverick.’ See, you guys didn’t know that. That’s how close we are.”
The book made several shocking claims about Kidd’s time in Milwaukee, where he served as head coach from 2014 to 2018. Some of the allegations were that Kidd once forced the Bucks to practice on Christmas and that he verbally abused Larry Sanders to the point that the center checked himself into the hospital.
While Kidd took the Bucks to the playoffs after they won just 15 games the year before he arrived, they were still the definition of mediocre during his tenure. Milwaukee went 183-190 (.491) overall and never made it out of the first round. After Kidd was fired in 2018, the Bucks won three straight division titles, culminating in this year’s NBA championship victory.
Kidd did indeed have a close relationship with Antetokounmpo regardless. But his response here does not really do much to rebut the notion that his tactics as coach of the Bucks were abusive, or at the very least ineffective.
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