The Cal Golden Bears are expected to make a strong pursuit to hire Jason Kidd as their next head basketball coach, but their ability to land him will be challenging.
According to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Kidd wants to return to the NBA and may prefer to see what opens up. To that end, Adrian Wojnarowski says Kidd will be a serious candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers job if they fire Luke Walton.
Kidd will be among the serious candidates for the Lakers coaching job if Luke Walton is dismissed, league sources tell ESPN. That’s expected to give Kidd some pause on pursuing the Cal opening now. https://t.co/mm1SHCcVNJ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 24, 2019
Walton is almost certainly going to be fired, so whether they hire Kidd becomes the question.
Kidd coached the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013-14 season and then was traded to Milwaukee. He coached the Bucks for 3.5 seasons before being fired midway through last year. The Bucks have surged without him and become the top team in the East this year.
Still, Kidd is a respected former player who was known for his on-court smarts during his playing days. He would probably command more respect from a star player like LeBron James. And while Cal may pursue him, coaching in college is a big difference from the NBA. In the NBA you’re dealing with pros and mostly focusing on basketball and managing players and the media. In college, you have to recruit, hit the AAU circuit, and deal with school administrators and boosters/fund raisers. He might prefer the pros.
