When Jason Kidd demanded a trade during the 06-07 season, most Nets fans saw it coming. However, we were also crestfallen at the fact that our team’s leader – arguably the greatest Nets player ever – was about to leave the franchise that he singlehandedly restored into relevance.
Now, Kidd is still in the news at the ripe age of 38. After Tuesday night’s soon-to-be-legendary Game 4, Kidd is just two games away from the elusive ring he couldn’t bring to New Jersey. In an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Kidd claims that he saw the deconstruction of the Nets coming (if you need a reminder, the Nets when 12-70 two seasons later). Any team owned by Bruce Ratner was doomed to fail, and Kidd knew it.
As a fan, I detested Kidd for a little while for demanding a trade. I always hoped that Kidd would retire a Net, as his jersey was put up into the rafters. I was hoping that Kidd would wear a Nets hat to his Hall of Fame inauguration; suddenly, it might be a Dallas hat. However, from an objective standpoint, Kidd tried his best in NJ. He worked his hardest, got the team to the best result the franchise has seen in its NBA history, and then left when the franchise wasn’t a winning organization. Who can blame him for that?
