After 19 seasons in the NBA, Jason Kidd is retiring from the game of basketball.
Jason announced his retirement in a statement released by the New York Knicks on Monday morning.
“My time in professional basketball has been an incredible journey, but one that must come to an end after 19 years. As I reflect on my time with the four teams I represented in the N.B.A., I look back fondly at every season and thank each and every one of my teammates and coaches that joined me on the court.”
Jason leaves the league as one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game. Drafted No. 2 overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1994, J-Kidd went on to become the co-Rookie of the Year in 1994-95, a 10-time NBA All-Star, a five-time First Team All-NBA selection, a four-time First Team All-Defense selection.
His name is all over the NBA record books at the top of some elite lists. Only five players in NBA history have played in more games than Jason, who finishes his career sixth on that list with 1,391. Only two men, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone played more NBA minutes than Jason’s 50,111.
He ranks second all-time in assists and steals at 12,091 and 2.684 respectively, behind only NBA legend John Stockton in both categories. He also finishes third all-time in three-pointers made at 1,988 and despite scoring being secondary among his tasks he’s well into the Top 100 in all-time NBA scorers at 71st with 17,529 points.
“Jason’s value to the Knicks and the National Basketball Association cannot be quantified by statistics alone,” Knicks General Manager Glen Grunwald said in a statement. “Everyone here in New York saw firsthand what a tremendous competitor he is and why Jason is considered to be one of the best point guards, and leaders, the game has ever seen.”
Though his numbers say plenty about Jason’s career, it’s that leadership that will define it. Since entering the league, Jason has made each team he played for better just by being on the floor.
The year prior to drafting Jason, the Mavericks won just 13 games. In his rookie season, they improved by leaps and bounds, winning 36 and falling just five games short of a playoff berth.
J-Kidd was traded to Phoenix in the middle of the 1996-97 season and led the Suns on an incredible late season run as they won 20 of their final 26 games to finish 40-42 and make the playoffs. The following year, Phoenix made another huge leap and won 56 games. They went on to make the postseason in each of Jason’s five seasons with the team.
Following the 2000-2001 season, Jason was traded from Phoenix to the New Jersey Nets where he made his biggest impact yet. The season prior to the trade, the Nets finished 26-56. Upon Jason’s arrival, they became an immediate playoff contender as he led a 26-game turn around, guiding the Nets to 52 regular season wins and all the way through the NBA playoffs to the NBA Finals for the very first time.
Though they could never break through and win the title, J-Kidd led the Nets to back-to-back Eastern Conference championships and playoff appearances in each of his six full seasons with the team.
In the midst of his seventh season in New Jersey, the Nets traded Jason back to the team that originally drafted him the Mavericks. Dallas made the postseason that year and in the two years that followed but it wasn’t until the 2010-11 season that everything broke the Mavericks’ way.
With Jason running the point, the Mavericks won 57 regular season games. They went on to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in a six-game first round and swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the semifinals to reach the conference finals for just the fourth time in franchise history and first with J-Kidd.
Dallas went on to beat the favored Oklahoma City Thunder four games to one in the West Finals and the Miami Heat 4-2 in the Finals to capture the first championship in franchise history and Jason’s first title in his 17-year career.
Jason remained a Maverick for one more season before signing a free agent contract with the Knicks in the 2012 offseason. In his only season in New York, Jason helped the Knicks reach marks the franchise hadn’t attained in years including the first Atlantic Division title since 1993-1994 as well as the first-50-win season and first playoff series win since 1999-2000.
Unfortunately after defeating the Celtics in the first round, the Knicks fell short of the championship aspirations and lost to the Indiana Pacers in the East semifinals. Two weeks after that loss, Jason has decided to call it a career, but he will forever be remembered by his peers as one of the greatest they ever played with.
“Veteran leadership on and off the court was a huge factor for our team that recorded 54 victories and an Atlantic Division crown,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “Jason provided an incredible voice inside our locker room and I considered it an honor to say I coached him.”
