Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd was fined $50,000 by the NBA for his antics in crunch time during the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, telling second-year guard Tyshawn Taylor to run into him and snare an extra time-out from the clutches of NBA rules. But the questions still linger. Taylor said it best: “Like, coach is drinking soda on the sidelines! I’m like ‘What? What you doing?'”
The YES feed was inconclusive, but in Los Angeles, fans had a view of Kidd grabbing the costliest cup in Barclays Center history. Though it’s not entirely clear who put the soda down, it looks like Kidd just grabbed the first soda he could find. Watch Kidd immediately at the top of this video, as he leans behind assistant coach John Welch and grabs the cup, next to a fan in a teal shirt in a courtside seat:
Now, I can’t say for certain because the view is obstructed, but my guess would be that Kidd simply saw a fan’s soda and his competitive brain sprung into action. But the videos from earlier are unclear: there’s nothing I can find where Kidd asks a security guard or bartender for a drink, or asks anyone to fetch him something off the sidelines.
If you are or know that fan, pass along the info to me at devin[at]thebrooklyngame[dot]com.
Maybe Kidd will have some answers in pregame tonight, but the mysterious origins of Sodagate get a little clearer with this video.
(h/t @bwallacemusic for passing along the video.)
