Jason Kidd quickly pivots Mavs attention after latest Luka Doncic drama

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd recently fired back at Mark Cuban’s accusation that he knew about the Luka Doncic trade before it happened. But more importantly, Kidd pivoted the attention away from the Doncic trade and onto the new era of Mavericks basketball. After denying that he knew about the deal all along, he quickly pointed out that the Mavericks have a new star that should be taking center stage in Dallas right now:

“We’ve planted our Flagg, and that’s Cooper Flagg,” Kidd said via Ron Harrod Jr. of DLLS Sports. “And we have the opportunity to build around him.”

The Doncic trade will inevitably be talked about for years to come, but the Mavericks have Flagg to build around now.

Jason Kidd wants to focus on Cooper Flagg, not Luka Doncic

During a recent appearance on the Intersections Podcast, Cuban, the long-time front-facing owner of the Mavericks and now minority owner, spoke about the Doncic trade.

It was just over a year ago that Dallas shipped Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in what was the most unlikely trade in NBA history. A deal that will never be forgotten.

Cuban stated that it wasn’t just Nico Harrison who made the deal. He effectively said that Kidd was in on it the whole time. That he knew the Doncic trade was going to happen.

Obviously, the NBA world was blindsided by the Doncic trade, and based on Doncic’s reactions after the deal went down, he seemed just as shocked to be moved.

That said, Kidd denied the fact that he knew about the trade, and afterward, he chose to point his attention to the new guy in town with the Mavericks: Flagg.

After the Mavs traded Doncic, they went on to win the NBA Draft lottery, allowing them the chance to select Flagg, who is one of the top candidates for Rookie of the Year this season.

He’s enjoyed a ton of success during his rookie season and seems to have all the tools to be one of the best players in the NBA. Still, he will always be linked to the season in which Dallas traded Doncic.

As the Mavs prepare to build around Flagg moving forward, they need to shift their attention to him and him only. Nothing about the past can change, so focusing on it is a fruitless endeavor.

But no matter how many times Kidd or anyone else tries to shift focus away from the Doncic trade, it will keep coming back up. That’s how big a deal it was.