Mavericks coach Jason Kidd needed time to regroup after loss to Kings

Head coach Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks watches play during the first half against the Golden State Warriors at American Airlines Center on February 12, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. | Sam Hodde/Getty Images/AFP

DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said Wednesday that he “needed some time to regroup” after losing in overtime Monday night to the Sacramento Kings.

Before Wednesday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors, he explained that he skipped the postgame media availability on Monday because he felt bad and wanted to avoid saying something he might later regret. His team lost the game and their third big man in two games, and multiple fans were ejected for expressing their displeasure with the recent trade of superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

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“I just needed a break,” Kidd said. “We lost a tough game. We lost another player. So, I just needed some time to regroup and refocus and figure out how to put these pieces back together.”

The departure of center Daniel Gafford early in the second quarter of the 129-128 loss to the Kings left the Mavericks with one active player taller than 6-8. The 7-foot Kylor Kelley, who played his first career NBA game Jan. 27, was acquired after center Dereck Lively II was lost with an ankle stress fracture.

The controversial Doncic trade made by general manager Nico Harrison on Feb. 1 brought 10-time All-Star center-forward Anthony Davis to Dallas, but he left with a groin injury in his Mavericks debut Saturday. In that same game, power forward P.J. Washington Jr. went out with an ankle sprain. Reserve center Dwight Powell has been out since Jan. 20 with a hip injury.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in sport,” Kidd said.

Harrison has become the object of Mavericks fans’ ire, even receiving death threats. Before Wednesday’s game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted he received death threats as Phoenix Suns GM in 2008 when trading Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal late in O’Neal’s Hall of Fame career.

“Seeing Nico go through stuff that he shouldn’t go through, it’s all kind of surreal, to be honest with you,” Kerr said.