Jason Kidd: Three reasons why the Nets legend deserves his spot in the Hall of Fame
Brought the Nets back to prominence
The Brooklyn Nets might be back in New York and have a completely different identity now than they did in Kidd’s glory days, but Kidd brought the Nets to relevancy and truly changed this team forever.
It is easy to bask in all the things he accomplished by number, but one thing that cannot be measured is what he did for basketball in New Jersey.
It is not really Kidd’s fault that the Nets left the Garden State for New York. However, it is not a coincidence that the Nets failed in New Jersey after Kidd’s departure as a player.
When Kidd came to the Nets in the 2002 offseason, the team had gone decades without winning a championship title, conference, or even division title.
The Nets desperately needed success in order to stay afloat in the NBA. The untimely death of Drazen Petrovic left the Nets in need of a potential mega-star.
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When the Nets got Kidd, they knew they were getting a great player. But, he put them over the top.
The Nets were struggling as a franchise in New Jersey. It has been decades since Julius Irving and needed a rise back to prominence.
Jason Kidd led them to that. He came in and immediately led them to two conference titles. But, we know how that ended.
It was an admirable back-to-back run to the Finals by the Nets and they saw limited success after that.
However, those are not only the only two titles the Nets have as members of the NBA, they are the reason why the Nets might still be even a franchise.
The team was able to stay in New Jersey for years after Kidd left in 2008. Even though it was followed by even more losing, the Nets were eventually put in a spot to move back to New York and get the facelift they needed to stay afloat.
NBA franchises are valuable. Each one has a different role in what it does for the league and therefore the sport.
The fact that Jason Kidd was able to almost single-handedly save an NBA franchise is more than deserving of being in the Hall of Fame.
He could have gotten all the All-Star games he wanted, but had they not been with the Nets the entire landscape of the NBA could look drastically different,
His success being left to this day, a decade after he is gone, he is legend status. That is what legacy is and what pushes players to basketball immortality.
The Nets might not exist without Jason Kidd being so good and successful. That is the biggest legacy he has left behind yet.