Every NBA team’s greatest draft pick of all time
By Dre Elder
The choice here was less obvious but still fairly easy. Jason Kidd epitomized the idea of making teammates better. Kidd proved this by opting to attend California rather than a college basketball powerhouse. During Kidd’s tenure, California won 70 percent of their games in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1959-60 season.
Jason Kidd was the premier point guard prospect in all the land. The Dallas Mavericks were the NBA’s worst team from 1991 to 1994. During that stretch, Dallas lost 200 of 246 regular season games. Luckily, fans in the area could find bliss with the Dallas Cowboys. A new hope permeated the Mavericks’ franchise when they selected Jason Kidd second overall in the 1994 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, the hope would be short lived.
The Mavericks improved to 36-46 in Kidd’s rookie season, but turmoil surfaced in their locker room thereafter. During the 1996-97 season, Dallas traded their star point guard to the Phoenix Suns. Kidd made three All-NBA First Teams as a member of the Suns. He also led the NBA in assists ever year from 1998-2001. Still, the Suns traded him to the New Jersey Nets after the 2000-01 season.
Kidd experienced great individual and team success in New Jersey. He led a young Nets team to consecutive Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. In 2008, Kidd traded to the Dallas Mavericks. He helped the franchise that drafted him win its first NBA championship against the star-studded Miami Heat in 2011.
The current Milwaukee Bucks head coach is second all-time in total assists with 12,091. Kidd’s No. 5 jersey was retired by the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.