The New York Knicks' Jason Kidd announced that he is retiring after 19 seasons in the league. The man has played with Phoenix, Dallas, New Jersey, and New York, racking up triple-doubles at an impressive rate. Standing at only 6' 3", Kidd was always one of the toughest players on the court, rarely missing games and banging bodies with big men to grab rebounds and seal those triple-doubles. He's been a leader on every team he's played on, leading Dallas, New Jersey, and New York to conference finals and an NBA Championship in Dallas in 2011.
He's amassed an impressive collection of awards throughout his career. Co-rookie of the year in 94-95. Five First Team All-NBA selections. Nine First Team All-Defense. Second all-time in assists and steals. Strong and heady, Kidd has used his size, durability, and court intelligence to develop an incredibly impressive resume. It has earned him a spot in the conversation for best point guards in the last couple of decades.
We definitely haven't seen the last of Jason Kidd in the NBA. Guards, in particular, have a tendency to make their way to the bench as coaches due to an acute knowledge of managing the whole team on the floor. Kidd is a general on the floor and always has been one. There is little doubt that he will continue to extend his legacy as an individual who understands the game of basketball on a level that most cannot even fathom.
But what bothers me about Jason Kidd and the celebration of his career is how his past is mired in anger issues and domestic violence. In 2001, as most know but seem to conveniently forget, Kidd was arrested for domestic abuse of his now ex-wife. The two were able to reconcile their differences for the time being and Kidd made a (tacky) public acknowledgement of his love for his wife every time he shot a free throw by blowing a kiss to the basket. Anger management classes and this display of affection and all is forgotten in the eyes of basketball fans.
Several years later the two filed for divorce, each with claims of violence from the other. Clearly, violence of some kind was at the heart of their issues. Kidd stopped blowing the kisses, the media didn't pay attention anymore and that was the end of it. Kidd went on to win a championship with Dallas in 2011 and finished off his career with an appearance in the Eastern Conference Semifinals with New York this year.
As it happens so frequently, the issues in professional athletes' personal lives are forgotten, shadows of the successes in their more public identities. And that is why I won't be celebrating Kidd's retirement. And it is why I am not rooting for him moving forward.
Everyone is entitled to some amount of privacy in their personal lives. You and I are afforded a certain amount more than professional athletes, one of the sacrifices they make when they select this public life. But one thing that will become public, whether athlete or regular Joe, is if you are arrested for abusing your wife. Jason Kidd did just that and that should be his legacy.
Far too frequently we allow the accomplishments on the court, field, pitch, or rink to be our primary image of a player. The way they carry themselves in games can be exonerated simply by adding digits to the wins column. We, as sports fans, must hold ourselves accountable for how we judge players, in turn holding athletes accountable for their actions.
In addition to the list of his accomplishments on the court, Jason Kidd was named the NBA's Sportsman of the Year twice. It's just too bad he couldn't extend that to his personal life.
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