Jason Kidd Comments on Decision to Remain with Nets over Spurs in 2003

One of the best point guards to ever play the game, Jason Kidd enjoyed a 19-year career with the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks. He was selected to 12 All-Star Games and won a championship with the Mavericks in 2011.

But after the San Antonio Spurs announced that Tim Duncan was retiring Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks head coach revealed that not joining the power forward in San Antonio as a free agent in 2003 was "the biggest disappointment" of his career, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com (via Matt Moore of CBSSports.com). 

Instead, he took a six-year, $103 million deal to stay with the defending Eastern Conference-champion Nets:

"

I thought I was going to be a Spur. I committed when I was down there on my visit [to San Antonio].

On my flight home, I think I got cold feet. And sometimes I have nightmares about that. Maybe I could have won a championship or two there. But I got really lucky with Dallas and won a championship.

"

That decision came shortly after Kidd and his Nets lost to the Spurs in six games for the NBA title, which delivered Duncan his second championship. It was Kidd's second straight NBA Finals defeat, as the Nets were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002. 

Kidd wouldn't make it back to the Finals until that 2011 triumph with the Mavericks as a 37-year-old. 

For the Spurs, things worked out just fine even though they didn't get Kidd's signature in the summer of 2003. Instead, they stuck with a French point guard named Tony Parker, who has gone to six All-Star Games while helping Duncan win an additional three titles in 2005, 2007 and 2014. 

Had Kidd signed with the Spurs, Parker's career could have taken a much different-looking path. Then again, Kidd's would have as well, as he could have celebrated four titles instead of just one. 

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.