Masai Ujiri on Wednesday made sweeping staffing changes in the Dallas Mavericks organization and parted ways with head coach Jason Kidd, telling Dallas-area media at the American Airlines Center that the team needed "a clean slate to go forward."
Ujiri, who was officially hired by the Mavericks on May 4, said he and the club would conduct "a comprehensive search" for Kidd's successor and that the search would reach the NBA, international leagues and the college ranks. "We are going to look everywhere," he said, adding flatly, "No stone unturned."
The moves carry weight because Kidd still had four years and $40 million remaining on his contract in Dallas and had coached the team for five seasons. Under Kidd the Mavericks made two deep postseason runs, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2024, and the organization has been through dramatic roster shifts since that series — most notably trading Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis eight months after the Finals loss to the Boston Celtics.
Ujiri framed the decision as forward-looking. "Every decision we make here is going to be future-based," he said, pointing to the presence on the roster of a 19-year-old he described as a generational player: "We have a 19-year-old generational player on our roster. We have to think that way. We are not going to make decisions based on winning today. I don’t think that would make sense for the organization."
That future-based argument comes with concrete constraints. The Mavericks hold the Nos. 9, 30 and 48 selections in the upcoming NBA Draft, but they do not control their own first-round pick outright after this year again until 2031; in 2027 the team owes its first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets unless it falls in the top two. Ujiri and newly hired general manager Mike Schmitz will have to navigate those limits as they assemble a coaching staff and supporting roster.
There was friction beneath the clean-slate language. Over the past two weeks Ujiri had multiple conversations with Kidd, and Ujiri said, "I discussed with Jason, and he was incredibly honest about those things. … With me, I didn’t look at that in any way. I’m comfortable with what I do and who I am in this position and the direction I’ve been given with ownership and where this team should be going." Ujiri also acknowledged he had "heard those things," a nod to outside commentary and the complicated public record surrounding the franchise.
Kidd’s five seasons included two deep postseason runs and, domestically, a Finals berth on April 12, 2024 — the high point of his tenure. He had spoken before the Mavericks' regular-season finale that day about making it back to the playoffs "as soon as next season," a timetable that now sits at odds with Ujiri’s explicit insistence on long-term planning.
Ujiri did not provide a timetable for naming a replacement, but he was unequivocal about the scope of the search. He said the team would evaluate candidates from the NBA, abroad and the college game, repeating that "we are going to look everywhere" and stressing the goal of clarity: "I feel in this organization, we need clarity in where we are going."
For Dallas, the question is not merely who replaces Kidd but whether the next coach will be willing to build around Cooper Flagg with the roster and draft constraints Ujiri and Schmitz must manage. As Ujiri promised a search with "No stone unturned," names will surface across beat reporters and broadcast desks — and readers searching for leads may even type terms like sean sweeney into their browsers — but the single, sharpened question that follows is concrete: can Ujiri and Schmitz find a coach who accepts a future-first mandate and can translate it into wins despite limited draft flexibility?
