Former Mavericks assistant Igor Kokoskov offered a candid account of his experience working under Kidd.
DALLAS - The Jason Kidd era in Dallas ended quietly compared to how it unraveled. Now that it is over, accounts of what it was like inside the building are starting to surface, and the first one is blunt.
Igor Kokoskov spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant on Kidd's staff, joining a team that reached the Western Conference finals that spring. He arrived with an obvious connection to the roster, having coached Luka Doncic with the Slovenian national team and guided that group to EuroBasket gold in 2017 before Doncic entered the NBA.
That connection, according to Kokoskov, became a problem.
Speaking with X's & O's Chat in an interview by Eurohoops, Kokoskov made clear that he separates Kidd the player from Kidd the coach. ... but overall labeling the iconic Kidd "the worst guy in the NBA.''
"He was one of my favorite players and one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game. I loved the Princeton offense because of Jason Kidd," Kokoskov said. "But Jason Kidd, the player and Jason Kidd, the coach and person, are two completely different stories. I didn't have a good experience with him, nor do I have a particularly high opinion of him off the court or as a head coach. And it's fine for people to know that. That's not just my opinion. He generally led some really gifted teams."
That final line is the sharpest one. Kokoskov pointed to Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Dallas as rosters Kidd inherited rather than built, a critique that has followed Kidd throughout his coaching career.
He then described a conversation he initiated to address the tension directly.
"Perhaps the best illustration is that, after working with Jason Kidd for a year, I sat down with him and said: 'Look, I have a history with Luka Doncic and I know him well. We've worked together before and that can certainly help the team. But I am not here working for Luka Doncic. I am working for you. This is your team,'" Kokoskov said. "However, he could never really get over it. It was something in his head, part of his personal issues, which I didn't want to get involved in."
Kokoskov left after that single season.
He notes that after his time in Dallas, he received a call from Steve Nash about joining Brooklyn.
His reaction?
“I was working for the worst guy in the NBA,'' he said, "and now I have a call from best guy in the NBA.”
Whether the account is entirely fair is impossible to know from the outside. Assistants who leave a staff after one year rarely offer glowing reviews and Kidd did guide that same 2021-22 team to a conference finals appearance before reaching the NBA Finals two years later. His resume is strong.
But the comments do reinforce something that dogged Kidd throughout his time in Dallas. The questions were rarely about whether he could win games. They were about the dynamics around him, the relationships and how the room functioned.
Which brings the conversation to Dusty May and a fairly obvious contrast.
May arrives in Dallas with essentially no baggage. His reputation is built on approachability and work ethic and players who have worked with him consistently describe someone who is easy to play for. That is a meaningfully different starting point from the one his predecessor operated from.
It does not guarantee results. First-year NBA head coaches face challenges that do not exist in college and May will be judged on wins eventually like everyone else.
What it does mean is that the drama should be different this time. The Mavericks spent years managing personalities, egos and friction alongside everything else. Whatever happens this season, it is unlikely to include a former assistant publicly questioning whether he respected the head coach.
