Jason Kidd's Value to the Dallas Mavericks Despite His Age

In a league dominated by energetic, athletic 20-somethings, a player who has been in the league since today’s rookies were in diapers remains an ageless, integral gear to his squad.

Future Hall of Famer point guard Jason Kidd, who turns 39 in March, continues to start for the Dallas Mavericks despite his age for reasons that statistics cannot easily convey.

That’s definitely not to say that numbers fail to support his amazing basketball intelligence and ability. Flip the calendar back to 2007 in his last season with the New Jersey Nets and Kidd was two rebounds per game away from averaging a triple-double.

Through his 18 seasons in the NBA, Kidd has garnered a total of 107 triple-doubles, good for third all time behind Oscar Robinson and Magic Johnson.

However, any basketball fan would be surprised to see Kidd snag another triple-double today. When you’re a couple years younger than some head coaches in the league like Monty Williams, Erik Spoelstra and Mike Brown, it’s an understandably difficult feat to even stay competitive on both ends of the court for 30-plus minutes.

So why does Kidd still have such a huge role as the Mavericks’ starting point guard?

The thing about Kidd is that he has the unique capability to evolve his game to match what his team needs. He was never known for being a three-point specialist in New Jersey. Once he landed in Dallas, he transformed into a dangerous spot-up shooter, shooting 39.3 percent from beyond the arc in five seasons with the Mavs.

It was exactly what the team needed to win a championship—a reliable facilitator to run the system and a reliable sharpshooter that Dirk Nowitzki could kick out to when double-teamed.

Nevertheless, this consistency has taken a dive this season. So far, Kidd is shooting 30.8 percent from the field and averaging only 4.5 assists a game. No one will deny that his age is catching up to him. To compensate, Kidd has made sure that his game still contributes to his team in other ways.

One thing that hasn’t disappeared is Kidd’s defense. It was a wonder seeing him guarding Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the playoffs last year. His crafty ability to strip the ball when players pull up for jumpers is underappreciated as well. This season, he ranks in the Top 10 in steals per game with 1.9 per game, despite competing with the young legs and quick hands of Chris Paul, Ty Lawson and Mike Conley.

His calm demeanor is also perfect for the Mavericks. When playing at a fast pace, an aging Dallas team is prone to turn over the ball. With Kidd at the helm, the team manages to establish its own pace of the game, because you never see him play according to his emotions. Even after draining game-changing three pointers in the playoffs last year, Kidd rarely flashed a simple fist pump. He always means business, and such a culture affects the rest of the team.

Lastly, his reputation as one of the greatest and ageless players in basketball history demands accountability and respect from his teammates. You simply can’t play basketball on a court with a future Hall of Famer and think you can fool around. 

As the point guard of the champion Mavericks last year, his defensive diligence, selflessness and grinding work ethic pervaded the culture of the franchise, and unsurprisingly, his individual identity became the team’s identity.

With Kidd out for three games with his lower-back injury, we’ll see how the Mavericks fare without his leadership on the court.