President Masai Ujiri outlined how the Mavericks and head coach Jason Kidd parted ways.
Dallas Mavericks president Masai Ujiri held a press conference Wednesday morning to address the previous day's news that the organization would be parting ways with head coach Jason Kidd.
After five seasons - three missed playoffs and runs to the West Finals and NBA Finals - the Mavs communicated the news as a "mutual" decision, though it was one the new front office boss wrestled with.
"What he's done for this organization we truly respect, so this was a very, very tough decision," Ujiri said to reporters.
Mavs co-owner and governor Patrick Dumont was clear in hiring Ujiri, an NBA champion general manager: Ujiri would have complete control over everything basketball.
He outlined that leadership in explaining his decision to move in a new direction with the head coach.
"I have to be accountable with a decision like this," he said. "I also have to be very active in how I look at the organization from top to bottom."
Ujiri, who replaces embattled Mavs GM Nico Harrison after his demise proved to be the awful Luka Doncic trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025, said that Kidd's firing did not have to do with any alleged involvement in the trade, according to insider Tim MacMahon.
Kidd claims he wasn't notified of the trade until "the eleventh hour," though minority owner Mark Cuban alluded to the coach's inclusion in the decision-making process on a podcast months later.
ESPN's Shams Charania reports, however, that there were thoughts from within the building that agreed more with Cuban's perspective.
“There is no question from Mavs sources that I talked to, part of the conversation the information gathering from Patrick Dumont and Masai Ujiri, was the support that it was felt internally that Jason Kidd had for that Luka Dončić trade," Charania said.
"And just what has gone on internally, there’s been levels of in-fighting, the culture. And Masai Ujiri, once he got in there, he wanted to turn that culture around and give the organization a clean slate."
Not only are the Mavs now initiating a "comprehensive search" for the next head coach, they are also saying goodbye to a top executive.
Reports say Matt Riccardi will be leaving the organization after he served as a co-interim general manager following Harrison's firing in November. Riccardi spearheaded the Mavs' trade that sent oft-injured Anthony Davis, the headlining package in the Doncic deal, to the Washington Wizards to free up the Mavericks' flexibility to build around No. 1 overall pick and eventual Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg.
The status of Michael Finley, the former Mavs player and co-interim GM with Riccardi, is not yet known.
Ujiri, as he emphasized in his introductory press conference last week, said winning remains the top priority for the Mavericks as the team transitions into a new era.
"This is what this league has become. It's a fight," he said. "We have to learn in here that it's not in here anymore ... the fight is out there. The fight is with those 29 other teams. That's where we're trying to be playing today. We're trying to kick their butts the same way they're kicking our butts.
"The kind of person that I bring in here is that mindset, of trying to win, and moving in that direction. We're all going to be focused on that. ... We all have to have a united front and think the same way. We're going to continue to build this team to think like that."
Ujiri ends his statement promising for transparent communication between the organization and it's fans throughout this process.
"So, have patience with us, like, we're going to get there, but just know that we're all going to communicate with you, with the fans, with the media, the right way, the appropriate way, [and] be transparent in how we deal with these things.
"I am going to sit here and take responsibility for any of the decisions we are going to make. It's not about being defensive. We are just going to have a vision here that we are going to follow."
