Of the 1,315 games that Jason Kidd has played in his NBA career — 10th most in NBA history — 1,302 of them have been played as his team’s starter at the point.

But when the Knicks open their season in a month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the Nets, the plan is for Jason to be entrenched as New York’s backup behind another veteran, Raymond Felton. And that’s a role that’s just fine with J-Kidd.

"There’s no competition," No. 5 said. "Ray is the way coach is going. Ray can run the show as well as anybody. For me, it’s to support Ray and help him with things I see and when I go in to get the lead or keep the lead. That’s as easy as it can be."

New Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who took over the team on an interim basis last season and was given the full-time reigns in May, believes that there will be opportunities for Felton and J-Kidd to be on the floor at the same time, possibly in crunch-time. Felton believes they could be lethal as a backcourt duo.

"You have two guys on the floor who can pass the ball and create and could score if they need to," Felton said of sharing the backcourt with Kidd. "I could see coach doing that a lot."

Jason has been working with Felton and several of their teammates during voluntary workouts for the last two weeks. Felton sees J-Kidd as a role model and has been listening intently to everything that No. 5 has to offer.

"He’s been talking to me every day, staying in my ear, helping me out tremendously," Felton said. "He’s been great. He’s a big role model of mine. I watched him when I was in high school and he was in the NBA. So the opportunity to play with him and pick his brain is a blessing for me."

With training camp getting started this week, and the preseason opener less than two weeks away, the players are anxious to get going. Jason noted that he kept himself well conditioned all summer and comes into camp as fit as he’s been in recent years.

"I’m in the best shape probably in the last five years," he said. "So I feel great and if I have to play a lot of minutes, I could do that."

No matter when or how much he ends up playing, J-Kidd is looking at his role on the Knicks the same way as he did at his roles on the Mavericks, Nets and Suns before them.

"My job is to win ballgames and help my teammates," he said. "Whether it’s as a starter or coming off the bench, my role is to make the game as easy as possible and as fun as possible for the other guys."

NEXT UP
The Knicks will be training at their facility in Greenburgh, New York throughout the week. They open the preseason on Thursday, October 11 in Washington against the Wizards. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT and the game can be seen on MSG.

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