Current Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd expressed regret Monday with his decision to not join Tim Duncan with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, calling it his "biggest disappointment." In an interview, Kidd told ESPN that he committed to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich that he would join them; however, on the flight home, Kidd said he got "cold feet" and instead had to inform Popovich that he changed his mind.
Kidd still wonders what could have been had he teamed up with Duncan during their primes and how many championships they could have won together. He said, "I wanted to see if I could win a championship in San Antonio." Until now, he believes he could have won one or two titles there. He described Duncan as "unstoppable" and a great teammate, player and person. He added that coming in second place to Duncan in the Most Valuable Player award voting was "an honor in itself."
Considered one of the best point guards of all-time, Kidd was a highly popular free agent after leading the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances (one of them against the Spurs). Despite thinking that he was going to be a Spur, Kidd ultimately decided to re-sign with the Nets for six years, $103 million.
The Spurs had the cap room and planned moves necessary to acquire Kidd from the Nets. According to a Yahoo Sports report, the Spurs planned to sign Jermaine O'Neal to replace the recently-retired David Robinson. Subsequently, they intended to sign Kidd to a maximum contract prior to giving Duncan the same. However, those plans did not work out and Kidd said he sometimes has nightmares about it.
After his decision, the Spurs went on to win three more NBA titles. Kidd's Nets struggled in the 2003-04 season and was mostly in the middle of the standings until he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the middle of the 2007-08 season. He would eventually win his lone championship with Dallas in 2011.
Kidd did get to play with Duncan in All-Star game and with the USA Basketball team but regretfully states, "Unfortunately, I didn't get to play with him with the Spurs."
Take a look at the full interview in the video below.