DALLAS — In addition to airing every game of the 2024 NBA Finals on our station, WFAA is also hosting a special presentation called "The Pregame" before every matchup in the series. Head here for more information.
WFAA was there in 1994 the day the Mavericks drafted future Rookie of the Year, Jason Kidd. Then, he was the new kid in town, brimming with confidence.
“I feel like that’s why Dallas picked me so high,” Kidd told the cameras as he prepared for his rookie season.
The momentous first-round pick would send Kidd and the Mavericks down a path culminating in the Mavs' only ring and this year's playoff run. Despite Kidd's success, his journey with the Mavericks was not without its ups and downs.
Despite being selected second overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1994 NBA draft, Kidd had some butterflies ahead of his first game with the Mavs.
“I probably won’t be able to get too much sleep tonight but at the same time, once the ball goes up I think the butterflies will disappear,” Kidd told reporters ahead of his first game.
He went on to dazzle Mavs fans with his moves, captured them with his charm and even serenaded them with his songs, releasing the autobiographical single, What the Kidd Did.
Who would have thought at the time that just three years later, the Mavs and Kidd would break up?
“I had a lot of good times here, unfortunately, it has to end," Kidd told reporters on the way to Phoenix.
In a twist of fate, Kidd's departure wasn't a goodbye, it was a see you later. A decade later, Kidd returned to the Mavericks with a new number.
“I’m just really excited to be back for the second opportunity,” Kidd said at the time.
This time around, he got Mavs fans a ring in 2011, cementing his legacy with the franchise.
But again he would leave, just to return ten years later as the Mavs head coach.
“To be drafted to win rookie of the year to win a championship and then come back and be the head coach, what a dream come true, what an incredible journey,” Kidd said when he was hired.
Decades of history between Kidd and the Mavs leave us with just one conclusion, in the words of Jason Kidd himself: "There ain't no party like a J. Kidd party, cause a J. Kidd party don't stop."