ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy has been on fire lately, making waves everywhere. The former New York Knicks head coach made news last week for his stance on removing free throws from NBA games along with getting rid of halftime altogether. Well, Van Gundy is back in the headlines this week, but this time it’s because an NBA team has reportedly shown interest in bringing him back to coaching. However, it’s not in the capacity you’d expect. The Dallas Mavericks want to bring Van Gundy in as an assistant on Jason Kidd’s staff.
This sounds like wishful thinking by Mavs team governor (owner) Mark Cuban. While Van Gundy’s teams never won an NBA championship, his Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in 1999 as the No. 8 seed out of the East. They were the first eighth seed to make it that far in the postseason. Between his stints in New York and Houston, Van Gundy’s squads produced four 50+ win seasons in his nine full years as head coach.
JVG left coaching for broadcasting
Other than coaching the FIBA World Cup team in 2019, Van Gundy hasn’t been on the sidelines as a coach since he left the Rockets in ’07. Those Rockets won 52 games that year behind Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. He wasn’t a championship head coach, but Van Gundy had a pretty good run. So, to think he’d genuinely entertain leaving his cushy ESPN job, where he works a couple times per week in exchange for an assistant’s role, seems asinine. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t seem feasible.
Are Jason Kidd’s days numbered?
On top of that, you might as well tell the current head coach, J-Kidd, that his time is basically up. You might as well bring Van Gundy in as the new head coach because that feels more like a setup than anything. As the person who owns the team, Cuban reserves the right to not be happy with Kidd’s coaching performance this year. After making it to the Western Conference Finals the previous postseason, the Mavs came back and fell on their faces after adding Kyrie Irving midseason.
Dallas’ front office gets the blame for the Kyrie-Luka Dončić debacle, but Kidd gets plenty of blame for what happened once these two stepped on the court together. Cuban could bring Van Gundy on as a consultant, but Kidd will be looking over his shoulder all season long if he plans to be an assistant in its truest form.
Why would Van Gundy want to return to coaching as an assistant in his 60s? Cuban can pursue all he wants, but it’s doubtful Van Gundy will bite. Throwing money at this situation would only undermine Kidd if Van Gundy came in as an assistant making more money than the head coach. This whole scenario will only produce more drama in Big D.