Jason Kidd is officially walking away from the game of basketball after spending 19 seasons in the NBA. The point guard announced his retirement after speculation was swirling about what his future held in New York after the Knicks were beat out of the playoffs. Now that Kidd is calling it career, he is always putting an end to long feud with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Kidd opted to leave the Dallas Mavericks and sign with the New York Knicks during the last offseason. He had originally committed to remaining in Dallas, but jumped to the Knicks instead. The move infuriated owner Cuban. He claimed there was no chance he would ever retire Kidd's jersey. The two then went without speaking or acknowledging each other during the two games between the teams during the regular season.
After announcing retirement, Kidd told a Dallas radio station that Cuban had reached out to him following the announcement.
"Yeah, Cube reached out and sent me a nice note. Cube is one, if not the best owner in sports and I was lucky to be with him when we won that championship. I definitely will reach out to Cuban in the near future for advice going forward. Now that I'll be on the business side of things and he's had a lot of success with that, that would be a guy to go to," Kidd said to KRLD-FM.
Kidd has no immediate plans of where to take his future now that he is done in the NBA. He plans on enjoying some time off, but will contemplate either getting into coaching or possibly broadcasting.
Kidd would like to one day have his number hanging in the rafters at American Airlines Arena where the Mavericks play. He began his career in the league wearing No. 5 when Dallas drafted him, but switched to No. 2 after the New Jersey Nets traded him back to the Mavericks in 2008.
"Oh, whatever number Cuban would like to put up, I'll be there. You know, I wish I would have gotten 5 when I came back the second time around, but I wouldn't mind-just as long as my number went up, that would be just the best honor and the highlight of my career," Kidd said.
The point guard certainly deserves to be up there. In his career, he averaged 12.6 points and 8.7 assists per game. He made stops in Dallas, Phoenix, New Jersey and New York along the way. He was co-Rookie of the Year with Grant Hill who also announced his retirement this offseason.
