New Mavericks rumor confirms Nico Harrison backstabbed Kidd at worst possible time

The Dallas Mavericks' season came to an end on Friday night after a blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, as Dallas fought valiantly in their second play-in game despite having to mitigate injuries and the Luka Doncic trade in what will likely be considered the craziest season in franchise history. Anthony Davis had 40 points in the contest, as he left everything on the court despite noticeably hobbling and struggling to stay in the game due to lower-body injuries.

Dallas' season didn't come to an ideal close by any stretch of the imagination, considering the team was playing in the NBA Finals less than a year ago. However, fans should commend Dallas' players for fighting to make the play-in as well as being able to beat the Sacramento Kings last Wednesday, as Dallas had no business being in the playoff race considering Nico Harrison's trade deadline massacre.

While all reports are indicating Kyrie Irving will re-sign with the Mavericks this summer and will hopefully be back from his torn ACL sometime next winter, Dallas is heading into their most uncertain period in franchise history this offseason. No one knows what direction Harrison and the front office will go in regarding their prospective pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, and the organization is still in shambles, trying to deflect the PR nightmare that the Doncic trade has become.

Reports say Kidd truly had no idea Doncic trade was going down

Dallas' PR crisis was only exasperated further on Monday morning (subscription required) after a new report from insider Tim Cato of DLLS, as Cato wrote that head coach Jason Kidd supposedly resented Dallas' decision to trade Doncic, even if he was in lockstep with Harrison in regard to some of the shared concerns they had over Doncic's conditioning and habits.

The article also said that Kidd's decision to skip a mandated post-game press conference back in February came to fruition because he was practically overwhelmed with having to manage the fallout from the trade as well as all the injuries Dallas was dealing with, as Kidd felt like he had been unfairly tasked with having to push a depleted roster that was originally constructed around Doncic to the playoffs.

Kidd has been the product of a ton of scrutiny from fans since the trade went down because of some ill-advised quotes he's said as well as the fact that many fans didn't believe he truly had no knowledge about the trade before it went down. Kidd and Harrison came into Dallas as a package deal and it seems like there's no logical way Harrison could've pulled this trade off without Kidd's insights, but that seems to clearly be the case based on Kidd's frustrations from Cato's reporting.

If Cato's reporting is true, and it likely is, perhaps Kidd should shed far less of the blame for the Doncic trade happening, as it appears that he was just doing his best to manage a crisis both on and off the court throughout the past few months. Kidd had to answer tough questions in the press room as well as with his depleted rotation over the past few months, yet he never lost the locker room, and Dallas' players fought hard for him to try and make the playoffs.

It's without a doubt that there's been some growing pains for Kidd in Dallas in terms of putting the optimal rotation on the court, but he's done far better in that area over the past two seasons and his job security shouldn't be threatened if this report by Cato is true, as it basically seems Kidd thought Harrison's decision to trade Doncic was as preemptive and ill-advised as the rest of us thought even if Kidd wanted Doncic to get in better shape.