Jason Kidd's exit may have saved the Mavericks from a brewing power struggle

The Dallas Mavericks parted ways with Jason Kidd earlier this week. While this departure has been reported as mutual, Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix alluded to this move quietly being a safety net for Masai Ujiri and the team to escape a potential power struggle. Kidd quietly wanted Ujiri's job and was pushing for more power in the shadows before Patrick Dumont hired Ujiri earlier this month. Mannix seems to believe that Ujiri did himself a favor by letting Kidd go.

"More likely, the decision to can Kidd was about eliminating a potential power struggle," Mannix wrote. "He’s also influential with ownership, specifically team governor Patrick Dumont, and has the support of Cooper Flagg, Dallas’s franchise star, and Kyrie Irving, its All-Star point guard. By moving on from Kidd, Ujiri may believe he is excising a potential problem before it becomes one."

Ujiri takes full control of basketball operations in Dallas

Not even getting considered for a job you wanted had to have been hard news for Kidd. He had coached Dallas for five years before this offseason, and through it all, built a close relationship with Dumont. As Mannix said, both Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving were also fond of him. Kidd had a special relationship with all three of them, but with Ujiri coming in, maybe he wanted to run the show completely on his terms.

Dumont leaned on Kidd heavily after firing Nico Harrison in November, but Kidd's influence in the front office is officially over.

Ujiri is one of the most respected executives in all of basketball, and with the titles of team president and alternate governor, it was always clear he would have a ton of power. All things basketball operations will now run through him.

His time with the Toronto Raptors proved how great a team-builder he is, and from the moment he was hired by the Mavericks, he made it clear he was going to evaluate everything. No one was 100 percent safe. Ujiri wanted to make sure that all areas of the basketball department were to his liking, and this came at the cost of a beloved coach.

He did not confirm whether Kidd would continue as the team's head coach during his introductory press conference, and he decided to part ways with him exactly two weeks later. This goes against the grain from what Ujiri has done with past head coaches after receiving a significant front office role, but the fact that he wanted to bring in a new head coach this time around says something.

Kidd's departure eliminated any potential brewing tension

Kidd is a Mavericks legend due to his time playing for the team as well as coaching, but Ujiri wanted a clean slate. The Hall of Fame point guard pushing for more power in decision-making while also coaching the team could've been disastrous, and Ujiri escaped a potential dillemma before it even became one.

Kidd trying to get more front office power while Ujiri is trying to build a contender around Flagg would've been a major distraction, and with Kidd gone, Ujiri and Mike Schmitz will be calling the shots. He's bound to get head coaching interest elsewhere, but with the Mavs starting fresh, not having someone who wanted more power with a new president in place saved them from what could've turned into a costly slippery slope.

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