DURHAM, N.C. — Everyone, including Jason Kidd, knew Friday’s announcement that the NBA had suspended the Nets head coach for two games for pleading guilty to driving while ability impaired was coming eventually.
With the formalities of the announcement out of the way, Kidd said he accepted the punishment of sitting out the first two games of his coaching career, and was ready to move on.
“I think we all knew that was gonna come at some point,” he said. “You have to be responsible, and the league came down with their suspension, and I accept that.
“And, for that, as if a player is out, guys have to step up, and my coaching staff is well capable of stepping up for those two games.”
Due to the suspension, Kidd will sit out the season opener Oct. 30 in Cleveland against the Cavaliers and the home opener Nov. 1 against the defending champion Heat. The guilty plea stems from a July 2012 incident in which he crashed his SUV into a telephone pole in the Hamptons shortly after signing as a free agent with the Knicks.
The NBA has a long-standing policy of issuing a two-game suspension to anyone who is pleads guilty or is convicted of any kind of drunk driving charge, making the actual issuing of the suspension Friday a mere formality.
“The decision is consistent with what the league has done in the past, and we look forward to Jason leading our team versus Orlando and the rest of the year,” Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement.
As part of his guilty plea, Kidd agreed to speak to children at a pair of Hamptons-area high schools.
“It was great,” he said. “I talked to both schools about making decisions. It was a great day for me to be able to speak to the youth.”
Kidd declined to say who would take over in his absence, saying his entire staff is capable of doing the job in his absence. The heavy favorite to handle the role is Lawrence Frank. The former Nets coach, who has won more games than any coach in franchise history, is the only coach on the staff with NBA head coaching experience.
“We pretty much knew this is coming,” Deron Williams said of Kidd’s suspension. “It’s pretty mandatory for the NBA to issue a two-game suspension for these types of instances. So it is good. It’s good to have Coach Frank. Someone who is out here teaching every day, he’s coaching. … I mean, he is the head coach, and so we’re definitely going to be comfortable with him until [Kidd] can get back.”
The Nets opted to hold Kidd’s jersey retirement ceremony during the preseason — choosing the Oct. 17 matchup with the defending champion Heat at Barclays Center — because Kidd and the organization didn’t want the event to become a distraction during a regular-season game. Now there will be talk centered around the suspension in the days leading up to the start of the season, but Kidd insisted it wouldn’t be a distraction to his players or the rest of his staff.
“There’s no distraction,” he said. “This is just part of the business, being accountable, and being able to move on. This is something that took [place] over a year ago, and it’s come down now so I get suspended, and that’s it. There’s no distraction.”