The Brooklyn Nets announced today they plan to retire Jason Kidd‘s No. 5 during an October 17th preseason game against the defending champion Heat on national television.
The Nets will raise Kidd’s No. 5 to the rafters in the Barclays Center during a October 17 preseason game against the Heat that will be shown on TNT starting at 8 p.m. EST.
Howard Beck at the New York Times has more.
“This honor is richly deserved,” Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement. “Jason is firmly established in the Nets’ record books as the greatest player in the team’s NBA history, and the retirement of his No. 5 is a fitting conclusion to his legacy as a Nets player.”
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Kidd’s jersey will be the sixth retired by the franchise, joining Julius Erving (32), Drazen Petrovic (3), John Williamson (23), Bill Melchionni (25) and Buck Williams (52).
“This is a very humbling honor, and one that I will always cherish,” Kidd said in a statement.
During his six-year stint in New Jersey, the Nets never missed the playoffs and Kidd holds the all-time franchise records for assists, steals, three-pointers and triple-doubles. He’s also holds their postseason records for points, assists, rebounds and steals. That last fact should provoke a double-take because it’s incredible, but also speaks to how woeful the Nets have been as a franchise since merging from the ABA in 1976 (they never should have parted with the Doctor).
Kidd led the Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003, and if Tim Duncan hadn’t been around, he probably should have won an MVP (he finished 2nd in MVP voting behind Duncan in 2002). But the Lakers and then Duncan’s Spurs defeated Kidd’s Nets in those two Finals appearances, and it wasn’t until after he was traded to Dallas in the summer of 2007 before he finally captured that elusive first title in 2011.
Now Kidd has a chance to lead the Nets again back to the Finals for the first time since they moved to Brooklyn. After six seasons running the Nets from the point guard position, he returned as their now-metaphorical floor general when he was named their new head coach in June.
What do you think about Kidd’s number getting retired?
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