Maybe the New York Knicks will end up hiring away a currently employed head coach after all.
According to Newsday’s Steve Popper, Jason Kidd’s future with the Dallas Mavericks no longer appears to be set in stone. A league source told him that Kidd “has not gotten clarity from the Mavericks other than the public statements from [president of basketball operations and general manager Nico Harrison].” What’s more, Popper adds that the Knicks aren’t making Dallas’ situation any easier, as they have yet to “walk away from their pursuit” of the 52-year-old head coach.
That’s not all, either.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post is reporting that the Mavs prefer to table extension talks with Kidd until later in the offseason. This could be a harmless nod to Harrison and the rest of the front office committing their focus to free agency, or it could prove that the Mavs and their head coach aren’t on the most hunk-dory of terms.
Last I heard on Kidd situation was Mavericks wanted to table extension talks till later in the offseason. https://t.co/jHVZh2d1wf
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) June 29, 2025
Either way, this potentially opens the door for New York to revisit one of its top targets.
Jason Kidd’s feels more gettable than ever for the Knicks
Kidd’s name appeared on the initial (and extensive) list of currently employed head coaches the Knicks attempted to interview. Their overtures were swiftly rebuffed, but his name never officially vacated the speculation factory.
If anything, conjecture intensified even after word dropped that Dallas would try to extend him. Kidd’s longtime and most trusted assistant Sean Sweeney left the Mavs to become the associate head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. Given that the Spurs just named Mitch Johnson their permanent Person In Charge, Sweeney’s departure almost assuredly isn’t about better positioning himself to take the reins of his new team. It feels more like a compensation issue, though we can’t know for sure.
In the event it’s the latter, the absence of an extension for Kidd looms even larger. Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan promptly received deals after the Knicks requested to speak with them. Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch did not follow suit, but he just inked an extension prior to the 2024-25 season.
Jason Kidd-to-New York momentum could start crescendoing
Perhaps this latest update is more like a delay than a harbinger of discord. After all, Kidd has already talked about how he plans to use No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg at point guard next year.
Still, the Knicks remain without a head coach, and clearly have zero qualms about waiting to hire one. Of course, issues like having to compensate Dallas will persist. But so long as Kidd remains without an extension, the New York noise isn’t going away.
Quite frankly, at this moment, it feels like that noise is on the verge of getting louder than ever.