Jason Kidd pulls of a surprise; Agrees to a three year deal with New York Knicks – NBA News
A day after it was expected that Jason Kidd will re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks for a contract extension following a decision by close friend Deron Williams to stay with the Brooklyn Nets, the veteran took a U-turn and signed
on with the New York Knicks for the next three seasons.
The Dallas Mavericks were reportedly offering Kidd a three year deal worth $9.5 million. However, the Knicks matched the offer by the Mav and Kidd decided to go with New York instead.
Kidd, who is 39 years old and second in the NBA’s all time list in assists and steals, will take his experience to the Knicks franchise, who faced difficulty finding a consistent point guard last season. Jeremy Lin was the only
successful point guard for the Knicks last season, who also tried Iman Shumpert and veteran Baron Davis.
Lin had a successful run with the Knicks when he scored at least 20 points in a stretch on 9 out of 10 games back in February. He was sidelined with a knee injury near the end of the season but the Knicks team management were
quite hopeful about bringing him back for next season as he is a restricted free agent at the moment. They had first tried for Steve Nash but he decided to move to the Los Angeles Lakers. Kidd was the other veteran point guard up for grabs in this year’s free
agency class and the Knicks recruited him with the hopes of him acting as a backup and mentor to the much younger Jeremy Lin, while also using his experience to lead the team on and off the court.
However, the Knicks plan for next season was dealt another blow when Jeremy Lin was offered a back loaded four year contract by the Houston Rockets. The Knicks have the rights to match the Rockets offer but it is unlikely they
will do so as they are already tight on cap space and the signing of Kidd makes it even more difficult to work out a big contract for Lin.
Kidd looked all set to join the Mavericks along with close friend and point guard Deron Williams. But Williams decided to re-sign with the Brooklyn bound Nets for a five year contract. The Mavericks also lost Jason Terry on Monday
when he verbally agreed to a three year deal with the Boston Celtics.
The Mavericks have had a poor free agency season even though they had built up much cap space in the hopes of signing Williams. With D-Will not joining and Kidd and Terry also leaving, the Mavericks are weak, particularly on the
guard position. They will now attempt to re-sign Delonte West who has expressed an interest in returning to Dallas.
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