Jason Kidd
Jason Kidd is a point guard for the NBA basketball team, Dallas Mavericks and is considered to be one of the best players of his generation. He led the New Jersey Nets to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
His career in the NBA actually began with the Mavericks; he went on to play for Phoenix for a time, until being traded to the Nets before finally coming back home to the Mavericks in 2008, when he scored the 100th triple-double in his career in the final regular game of the season.
Born in San Francisco, the oldest of 6 children, Jason Kidd would often play on the public city basketball courts in the Oakland area and often against NBA All-Star Gary Payton. The two still talk about those early days.
While in high school, Kidd was ranked the top high school player in the country, earning the Naismith Award. He stayed close to his native San Francisco, attending college at UC-Berkeley. He was a finalist for the Wooden Award as well as another Naismith while in college and in 1994, entered the NBA draft. When he left his college team, his #5 jersey was retired.
Kidd’s achievements are impressive: he was a member of the All-NBA First team from 1999 to 2002 and in 2004, is a one time NBA All-Star and won 2003′s NBA Skills Challenge Championship. As if this weren’t enough, he also was a member of the 1995 NBA All-Rookie First Team and made the All Defensive First and Second Teams from 1999 to 2007!
Kidd joined forces with some of the other greats of the game on the US Men’s Basketball team in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where they won a gold medal and went undefeated. Kidd has an unbeaten record of 56-0 in USA Basketball (including exhibition games). He has won gold medals in both the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games.
As amazing as his basketball career has been, his personal life has been rocky at times. He was arrested and pled guilty to charges of domestic abuse in 2001. Kidd entered counseling, anger management courses and quit drinking; he later reconciled with his wife.
However, he filed for divorce in 2007, claiming his wife was insanely jealous, paranoid and had threatened to file false reports of abuse. His wife filed as well, claiming physical abuse. The two have three children together.
In 2008, it was found that Jason Kidd and his girlfriend, the model Hope Dworaczyk were expecting a child of their own.
While he may have had personal problems, Kidd’s record on the court is indisputable. Kidd is one of two players in the NBA to amass a career scoring total of more than 14,000 points, 9,000 assists and 6,600 rebounds. Jason Kidd is also (along with Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson) one of only three players in NBA history who has averaged triple-doubles in multiple playoff games. In fact, he is one of the league’s all-time leaders on double triples, behind only Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson – it should be no surprise that Kidd was named the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year in 2007.
Jason Kidd is nothing if not an accomplished player, having set records and made great achievements in the NBA and as an Olympian. He is also a humanitarian, sponsoring youth programs in the greater Dallas- Ft. Worth area.