Jason Kidd got caught red handed spilling a soda on the floor and it cost him $50,000! What?
A bit steep for a spill, right? Well, actually no.
Not when you consider the motivations and the histories involved.
Kidd is a former NBA star player originally drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1994 but also playing for the Phoenix Suns, the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks. He was selected to be an NBA All-Star ten times and won the NBA Championship with the Mavericks in 2011. To be sure, Kidd knows the game.
Jason Kidd now coaches the Brooklyn Nets and was on the floor against the Los Angeles Lakers three points down and the final seconds ticking off the clock. The Nets had no time outs left and the game was slipping away. What’s a coach to do??
Coach Kidd was sipping his soda on the sidelines when the crisis came to a head. For better or worse, he was observed mouthing to player Tyshawn Taylor ‘hit me’. Taylor did and Kidd’s soda went all over the floor causing a whistle to blow and a time out to be called to clean up the mess.
By chance, that time out was just what the Nets needed at that point in time. Such a deal, except that the NBA Commissioner’s office didn’t buy it and hit Kidd with a $50,000 fine for the stunt and the Nets lost the game anyway.
Come to find out, this was not the first time that this little trick had been pulled. In fact, it’s kind of infamous in the game. Probably one good reason why the refs were not at all fooled by the act. Kidd played innocent at first but finally… admitted his guilt in effect anyway.
YES Network commentator Mike Fratello, an ex-coach himself, said that he used to do that same act when he was a coach. Apparently the strategy is one the coaches have been using for unknown years now. Only Kidd got busted.
Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni commented to reporters after the incident, “I knew he was going to get caught. You can’t do that. That’s crazy. He can’t do that. It’s cute for a lot of people, but you can’t do that”.
Kidd initially denied the collision was a planned event but he finally relented and pretty much admitted that he did it on purpose saying, “We’ll move on.”
Kidd did receive one commendation after all. Charles Barkley granted him his famous ‘turrible’ award of the week!
