Jason Kidd 'excited' to coach Kristaps Porzingis in Dallas

Kristaps Porzingis has looked a lot like the forgotten member of the band in Dallas, but his new head coach thinks he can turn it around.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd expressed confidence in Porzingis this week after taking time to visit the seven-footer in his home country of Latvia.

“KP was an incredible host,” said Kidd, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “We had dinners. We got to see him work out, and we got to talk a lot. He’s in a good place, physically and mentally. I’m excited about the opportunity to coach him.”

Porzingis, who will enter his third season with the Mavs, had a strong statistical regular season in 2021. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game on a career-high 47.6 shooting from the field. However, during the playoffs Porzingis seemed to have on an invisibility cloak. He faltered in the team’s first-round loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and appeared to be an afterthought in the game plan of former coach Rick Carlisle.

Kidd now takes over in Dallas and will try to get more out of Porzingis. He may have some challenges to overcome in order to achieve that though.