On Thursday, Jason Kidd will be introduced as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, taking over the helm of the Mavs for the third time (twice as a point guard, now as coach) and he’ll be taking over a franchise for the eighth time (five as a point guard, three as a coach).

On Wednesday, Chris Paul will take the floor for Game 4 of the NBA Finals, looking to give his Phoenix Suns team a commanding 3-1 lead. For Paul, Phoenix is his fifth stop in a long and decorated 16-year NBA career. When his career concludes, Paul will likely have his choice of NBA head coaching jobs, if he wants one, like Jason did upon the conclusion of his career.

The two players have a lot more in common than the position they play. They’ve shared the court together dozens of times as opponents and as teammates on All-Star teams, as well as the 2008 U.S. Olympic Redeem Team, where Paul backed up Jason en route to an undefeated Olympic run and the gold medal, Jason’s second of two and Paul’s first of two.

But the thing that ties them together most, the Hall of Famer Kidd and the future Hall of Famer Paul, is the instant and incredible impact they’ve had at each of the stops along the way in their career.

After the Suns continued their Cinderella run to the NBA Finals with a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, Esfandiar Baraheni of the Score dug deep on the impact the 36-year-old Paul has made with every organization he’s been a part of.

Though Paul, known by many as “The Point God” had never made an NBA Finals appearance before 2021, there’s simply no denying the impact he makes on his team’s success both in the win column and in their overall offensive efficiency. The same can be said for J-Kidd who, like Paul, is one of the game’s all-time most influential playmakers. With that being said, we decided to take a look at comparable numbers from Jason’s career to see how he’s driven his teams to success from a statistical standpoint.

While the main focus was to look at how he affected a team’s overall record, we’ve also decided to narrow in on his team’s scoring and passing productivity as well, taking into account how they fared before his arrival as a base of comparison.

Note: The numbers in parentheses note the league rank for the team during a single season to give an idea of how they compared to the rest of the NBA. Each record also features only the games that Jason Kidd played in during his tenure with each team.

Mavericks
Before (1993-94): .158 W%, 95.1 PPG (27th), 19.9 assists (27th)
After (1994-1997): .379 W% (69-113), 98.8 PPG, 22.4 APG

Suns
Before (1995-96): .500 W%, 104.3 PPG (4th), 24.4 assists (6th)
After (1996-2001): .647 W% (200-109), 98.4 PPG, 24 APG

Nets
Before (2000-01): .317 W%, 92.1 PPG (23rd), 19.5 assists (26th)
After (2001-2008): .577 W% (292-214 record with Kidd playing), 94.3 PPG, 23.4 APG

Mavericks (Part II)
Before (2006-07): .817 W%, 100 PPG (9th), 19.9 assists (24th)
After (2008-2012): .635 W% (202-116), 100.2 PPG, 22.2 APG, 1 championship

Knicks
Before (2011-12): .545 W%, 97.8 PPG (11th), 20.1 assists (18th)
After (2012-13): .645 W% (49-27), 100 PPG (11th), 19.3 assists (30th)

Right off the bat, it’s evident how Jason positively influenced a team’s overall record, much like CP3. The Mavs, Suns and Nets all saw their records improve with Kidd added to the roster, while the Mavs and Nets also saw a massive increase in scoring average and passing figures. Considering how solid the Suns were when they added Jason to the roster, it makes sense that they remained at the top of the league in assists and points while Kidd was there, as the team led the league in assists per game twice and their scoring averages landed in the top 10 in two of Kidd’s five seasons in Phoenix.

His success with the New Jersey Nets, at the apex of his playing career flashes as the biggest improvement. The Nets had made the playoffs just once during the seven seasons before Jason arrived in the 2001 offseason. After he arrived, they went to back-to-back Finals in his first two seasons with the franchise and qualified for the playoffs in each of his six full seasons with the franchise, then immediately endured another five-year playoff drought after they traded him back to Dallas.

In his second stint in Dallas, Kidd’s Mavericks weren’t as successful in the win column as their prior 2006-07 season without Kidd, but he did the Mavericks crawl out of the bottom of the league in assist numbers. And of course, Jason ended up being a vital part of Dallas’ title run in the 2010-11 season.

The final stop in his career was a one-season stint with the New York Knicks. In that one season, the Knicks won their first playoff series since 2000. They haven’t won another one since.

Jason’s game-changing skillset clearly boosted his team’s performance to new levels on the court, but what about on the sideline? Let’s take a look at the same numbers from the teams he’s coached to see how they improved in those same aspects when he was in charge.

Nets
Before (2012-13): .597 W%, 96.9 PPG, 20.3 APG
After (2013-14): .537 W%, 98.5 PPG, 20.9 APG

Bucks
Before (2013-14): .182 W%, 95.5 PPG, 21.5 APG
After (2014-2018): .478 W%, 100.9 PPG, 23.4 APG

The Nets may have seen a slight decrease in their win percentage in his lone season as head coach, but the team improved in other areas, boosting their scoring and passing figures during his time in Brooklyn. Most importantly, the Nets franchise, which hadn’t won a playoff series since Kidd’s tenure as a player with the team, knocked off the Toronto Raptors in an epic seven-game series, before succumbing to the Finals-bound Miami Heat.

Kidd left Brooklyn after one season for Milwaukee, and the Bucks saw a major increase in production with Kidd leading the way, as the team improved drastically upon one of their worst seasons in franchise history, including significantly better average point totals and assists. The Bucks finished in the top-10 in assists per game in Jason’s first three seasons as head coach, showing that Kidd’s knack for setting up his teammates carried over to the teams he coached as well.

These are promising numbers that perhaps paint a clearer picture of what the Mavericks should come to expect with J-Kidd as their next head coach. With Dallas finishing 17th in points per game and 26th in assists per game, Dallas fans should see major improvements in both areas as Jason looks to build up a team that’s made two straight playoff appearances.