Kidd thrived on the biggest stage: the NCAA tournament. In the opening round against LSU, he had 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals. There was no bucket bigger than his game-winning basket, which is now referred to as the “pretzel shot,” a name coined by LSU coach Dale Brown.
Following the contest, according to a 1993 LA Times article, Brown claimed that the sixth-seeded Cal Bears had no chance to beat the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils, who were coming off back-to-back National Championships. Brown also added that Kidd would be no match for Duke’s All-American point guard, Bobby Hurley.
With under three minutes to play in Cal’s second-round game against Duke, trailing 77–76, Kidd attempted to pass the ball inside to a teammate, but it was batted away. Rather than giving up on the play, Kidd hustled to the ball, and, while falling down after being fouled by Grant Hill, put up a shot that bounced off the backboard and directly through the net. He went on to make his free throw, giving Cal a 79–77 lead. A lead that the Bears never gave back. Cal’s 82–77 victory gave the Bears their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1960.
The nation’s best freshmen finished the game with 11 points, 14 assists (Cal record for an NCAA tournament game), 8 rebounds, and 4 steals. The performance earned him a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated just two days later. Although Cal was defeated by Kansas in the following round, the Bears’ season was a success.
As a sophomore in the ensuing season, Kidd continued to excel. In a January game against Stanford, Kidd had 18 assists, which is still a school record for most assists in a game. He finished the season with 272 assists, which was not only the most in a season by a Cal player, but also stands as a Pac-10 conference record. He was named 1994 Pac-10 Player of the Year. Following his impressive campaign, Kidd declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his junior and senior season.
Despite playing just two years, Kidd racked up 204 steals, a program record, and the most ever by a Pac-10/12 player. In California program history, there have been 5 total triple-doubles to date. Kidd had 4 of them. In 2004, Kidd’s number 5 jersey was retired by the program.
Kidd was selected second overall in the 1994 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. After an impressive rookie season, leading all first-year players with 7.7 assists per game, Kidd shared the 1995 NBA Rookie of the Year Award with Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons. The following season, he made his first All-Star team and finished the year averaging 16.6 points, 9.7 assists, and 6.8 rebounds.
From 1997 to 2001, no player had more assists than the San Francisco native. During that span, Kidd made three more All-Star teams and led the NBA in assists in three straight seasons. In 2001, after stints with the Mavericks and Suns, Kidd was sent to the New Jersey Nets, a team that was coming off a dreadful 26–56 record.
Eager to shift the culture in a positive direction, Kidd set the tone early on during training camp when he dove for a ball in a summer practice. “Every possession means something,” he said. “I’m out here to compete and win.” While showing leadership skills, Kidd, already one of the premier assist-men in the league, focused on his jumper. When I asked Kidd how he went about molding his shot, I was anything but surprised with his answer. He said, “I shot thousands of shots [per day] and worked on my technique.”
Kidd would head to the practice facility early, working on his approach as the rest of the team piled in. After technique work, Kidd gave me the rest of the rundown for the day: “Then you have the team practice. Then after practice, now you’re working on your corners. Start to work on your distance. Shooting from different spots on the floor, taking shots that you would get in the game.”
While all this work may get exhausting, Kidd reminded me that you have to put in the work and believe in what you do in order to see positive results. “There’s going to be days where everything feels perfect, but the ball just doesn’t go in. Are you going to believe in what you’re doing is right and stick with it? Or are you going to try and change it? I had to trust that we were doing the right thing and it paid off.”
During his first season with the Nets, Kidd averaged 14.7 points, 9.9 assists, 7.3 rebounds, and led all NBA players with 175 steals, which had me asking him how the heck he was so good defensively.
Kidd responded, “It starts with your want. You gotta want to do something that most people don’t.” While the majority of players consider playing lockdown defense, “dirty work,” Kidd relished the idea of trying to shut down the opposing team’s best player. He said, “I watched a lot of film. I studied the opponent. Not just the guy I would be guarding, but also the other guys. Just in case there was a switch.” Kidd talked about breaking down film of guys like Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Miller, and Michael Jordan. When he brought up Mike, Kidd was quick to mention “that [Michael’s] file was really small because he was just too good.” Kidd also said that film was something he started to study back when he was in high school. No wonder he currently ranks as the nation’s all-time high school leader in steals.
Kidd had transformed the Nets, leading them to a 52–30 regular-season record and finishing runner-up to Tim Duncan in MVP voting. During the postseason, Kidd performed how he always does in big moments, leading New Jersey all the way to the NBA Finals before ultimately falling to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his twenty playoff games, Kidd scored over 300 points, brought down over 150 rebounds, and tallied up over 175 assists. In the history of basketball, only two other players, Magic Johnson (1990–91) and Lebron James (2017–18), have accomplished that feat in a single postseason run.
The next season, Kidd averaged a career-high 18.7 points and had the Nets right back in the NBA finals. Although they fell short for the second season in a row, losing in six games to the San Antonio Spurs, Jason Kidd had changed the culture in New Jersey and proved he was a winner.
In 2011, at age thirty-seven, Kidd was finally able to hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. As the starting point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, Kidd and his teammates defeated the Miami Heat in six games to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship. In game three of the NBA finals, Kidd recorded 10 assists, becoming the oldest player over the last thirty years to have a 10-assist game in the NBA finals.
Jason Kidd ended his career as a ten-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA First-Team member, and a nine-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. He currently ranks second in NBA history in career assists and steals, while also holding onto tenth place in 3-point field goals made. Only two players in the history of the sport finished their career with at least 15,000 points, 10,000 assists, and 5,000 rebounds. One of them is Jason Kidd, and the other is the man who Kidd often mimicked as a child on the playgrounds: Magic Johnson. In 2018, Kidd was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, going down in history as one of the best point guards the game has seen.
At the end of our interview, I asked Jason his thoughts on what he believes are the keys to self-discipline. Obviously, in order to be considered “disciplined” you must identify what you are trying to accomplish. Ever since he was a kid, Jason was focused on becoming the best possible basketball player and would do whatever it took to win. Whether it was breaking down film of his opponent or shooting thousands of jumpers a day, Kidd was committed to the craft.
Not only do they have insane work ethics, self-disciplined people make taking care of their bodies their first priority. Kidd credits getting the right amount of rest and eating the proper foods as the main reasons he was able to stay in the league for so long and perform at a high level. He always ate oatmeal for breakfast, and Kidd firmly believed in taking a nap before the game to physically and mentally rest. Part of staying disciplined is making sure you are locked-in and alert at all times. In order to maintain a heightened focus, you must get a suitable amount of rest. So if you need to, be like Jason and mix in a nap.
For five years, researchers from the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, followed 3,462 individuals, all between thirty-five and seventy-five years old and noted that people who napped once or twice a week actually lowered their risk of suffering from any sort