Mavericks fans will die laughing when seeing who Knicks settled with instead of Kidd

While most of the Dallas Mavericks' transactional business this offseason has already gotten done after they filled out their 15-man roster (for now) by signing D'Angelo Russell, one of the more interesting subplots of Dallas' offseason was the New York Knicks' attempt to poach away head coach Jason Kidd.

Contrary to the Houston Rockets, who shut down New York's request to interview head coach Ime Udoka immediately, the only reason this saga lingered for the Mavericks was because they didn't immediately dispel the notion they'd let Kidd interview for the Knicks job. Dallas let the situation drag out till New York formally asked them for permission to talk to Kidd, but the Mavericks gave the Knicks a firm denial when they actually asked roughly a week later.

For the Knicks' sake, they finally completed their head coaching search, as they are expected to hire former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown. While Dallas clearly managed to hold onto Kidd, there were still reports that the Knicks may have continued to go after Kidd even after the Mavericks denied them permission to speak to him, so this is a tiny sigh of relief for Mavericks fans and gives them the opportunity to compare Kidd and Brown's acumen.

Mavericks fans will think Knicks botched their coaching search

It should be noted that Brown is by no means a terrible head coach, as he's had an illustrious career and has won NBA Coach of the Year in both 2009 and 2023. However, Brown was fired after an abysmal 13-18 start with the Kings last season, and he was widely criticized for his frantic and blitz-heavy defensive schemes in Sacramento, especially since they didn't necessarily personnel to take those kinds of gambles.

Brown has been a polarizing coach through his career, but it's without a doubt his Kings' stint brought him back to relevancy after a brief stint with the Los Angeles Lakers as well as a run with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-2010 and 2013-14. Brown has seen success with deeper and talented rosters, but he probably isn't the coach a team wants taking into a rebuild or re-tool scenario.

Brown lands arguably the biggest gig of his career coaching in New York, and Mavericks fans are just happy he is the one to take the mantle from Kidd in this instance after rumors of Kidd leaving for New York got unnecessarily intensified. The Knicks don't have the best array of point-of-attack defenders, so it'll be interesting to see how Brown implements his defensive schemes, and it will also be interesting to see if he can diversify New York's offense more compared to Tom Thibodeau.

Brown isn't the worst hire in the world and even made an NBA Finals appearance with the Cavs in 2007, but Thibodeau is widely regarded as one of the best defensive coaches and floor-raisers in the entire league, and he has far more success in the modern NBA compared to Brown. New York was ambitious in their head coaching search, and for good reason given they are the No. 1 media market in the league, but it's without a doubt they would've wanted a more recently proven commodity in Kidd compared to Brown, as Kidd made the NBA Finals just one season ago and already has great acumen in New York.

Mavericks fans can officially rest easy about Kidd leaving for New York now, even though it seemed particularly unlikely following the selection of Cooper Flagg. This isn't some colossal failure by the Knicks at face value by any stretch, but it's a riskier gamble than Kidd would've been for New York for sure. Mavericks fans can poke fan at the Knicks and rejoice about this hire from that standpoint going forward, especially since Brown doesn't compare to Thibodeau's track record, but Mavericks fans should be aware Brown is still a great coach that could very well take Jalen Brunson and company to the next level in a wide-open Eastern Conference next season.