Jason Kidd was let go as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks a year ago and has spent this season away from the sidelines, but his desire to be a coach again remains and his name has come up recently in rumors at the college and NBA levels.
Cal fired coach Wyking Jones after two seasons and is now in the market for a new head man, and will reportedly make Kidd their top target. However, Kidd’s name has also come up as a top candidate for the Lakers job this summer as they are expected to fire Luke Walton once the season ends. That would obviously a wrench in Cal’s plans as Kidd would reportedly prefer an NBA job.
On Monday, Kidd went on The Jump with Rachel Nichols, Brian Windhorst, and Scottie Pippen and addressed both the Cal and Lakers jobs, noting that it was nice to be wanted by Cal and that he’ll be waiting until the NBA season ends to make a decision on his future.
Kidd is, unsurprisingly, diplomatic here, but his comments on Windhorst’s question about whether the Lakers job is still a desirable one were telling.
“I think when you look at the Lakers as a whole, it’s a franchise that is one of the best in the world — not just in the NBA, but in the world,” Kidd said. “So, if you ever have the opportunity to wear the purple and gold, you can’t turn that down, as a coach or as a player because they’re all about championships.”
It’s clear Kidd wants back in and his comments here indicate that if the Lakers job were to open up and he was to get that offer he would be on the sidelines in L.A. pretty quickly. He does make sure to say he thinks Luke Walton did a great job with the Lakers this year and acknowledge that the job isn’t open, but it seems clear what’s at the top of his list. That likely means Cal would be secondary, but they certainly know that and will have to decide if it’s worth waiting out the Lakers job for Kidd or moving on to other candidates.
