Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd is apparently depicted as a mean-spirited petty tyrant in a newly released biography of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Kidd, who coached two-time MVP Giannis and the Bucks for four years from 2014-18, is portrayed as a hard-driving disciplinarian with little regard for his players' personal lives or their health, according to excerpts of the book -- titled "Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an MVP" -- that surfaced this week on social media.
In one troubling incident, Kidd, who starred as a player with the Mavericks, Suns and Nets before transitioning into a coaching career, abruptly scheduled a last-minute full-team practice on Christmas Eve after he felt like his team hadn't put forth a sufficient effort in a Dec. 23 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, in a game that Kidd fumed was "winnable."
The 10-time All-Star put at least a couple of his veteran players on the spot, the book said, asking them in front of their teammates whether the team deserved to be off on Christmas Eve after the loss. After the players danced around Kidd's question, the coach informed them practice would be at 9:00 a.m. the next morning. The players objected, explaining they already had travel plans to see their families, according to the book, but Kidd was apparently unmoved.
"I don't care," he said. "You guys get paid to do a job, so you're doing your job tomorrow. Things change."
At practice the next day, Bucks players were made to run "like a college team," and Kidd reportedly hounded former reserve big man Larry Sanders, calling him a "piece of shit" and a "terrible player."
"I don't think I've done that since I left J-Kidd," former Bucks guard Brandon Knight told the book's author, Mirin Fader. "It was not normal."
After the three-hour practice, which consisted mostly of demanding conditioning drills which left players doubled over, Kidd then insisted they work out in the weight room and in the pool. He reportedly continued to ride Sanders, calling him "pathetic," with Sanders recalling that the episode broke him down physically and mentally, causing him "full-body convulsions."
"Everybody was so tired that nobody was thinking about Christmas," former backup center Zaza Pachulia said in the book. "We didn't have energy left to open gifts."
Sanders said he's in a much better place now, and, amazingly, conceded that Kidd's not a bad person, "but mentally, he kinda like brain fucked me a little."
In a separate incident, Kidd apparently once insisted Giannis had blown a defensive assignment despite Giannis protestations. After reviewing game film at halftime, it was confirmed Giannis was correct -- but Kidd still benched him for the second half anyway.
In another bizarre episode a couple years later, the team was made to run after reserve center Thon Maker was late for practice owing to a snag with his cell phone. Maker was the only Bucks player who used a cell phone other than an iPhone, which apparently infuriated Kidd and represented a lack of team unity.
One former player described Kidd's coaching style as "psychological warfare." When asked to comment on Kidd, most players and coaches first responded by asking whether they were on or off the record, the book claims.
Kidd's coaching career began in Brooklyn, where he led the Nets to the playoffs -- including a first-round win over the Toronto Raptors -- in his first season after retiring as a player. He seemed to be a polarizing figure in the Nets organization, though, and left after just one year for Milwaukee. After four years on the Bucks' bench, Kidd has since joined the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant.
The former Rookie of the Year and NBA champion's alleged reckless behavior seems to square with a troubling pattern of off-court behavior. He has had at least a couple of run-ins with the law, including pleading guilty to domestic abuse of his former wife in 2000, as well as a 2012 guilty plea to driving while intoxicated in Southampton, N.Y.