Kidd played college basketball for the California Golden Bears and was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 1994 NBA draft as the second overall pick. He was named co-NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season with the Mavericks, along with Grant Hill. Then, from 1996 to 2001, Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns and later for the New Jersey Nets from 2001 to 2008. He led the Nets to two consecutive NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. In the middle of the 2007–08 season, Kidd was traded back to Dallas. At age 38, Kidd won his only NBA championship when Dallas defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 finals. He finished his playing career in 2013 with the New York Knicks. The following season, he became the head coach of the Nets, who had relocated from New Jersey to Brooklyn. After one season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he coached for four seasons until he was fired mid-season in 2018. After a season off, he was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he won an NBA championship in 2020; he reunited with the Mavericks organization in 2021 to become the franchise's head coach, reaching the Western Conference finals in his first season and later the 2024 NBA Finals in his third season.
Kidd's ability to pass and rebound made him a regular triple-double threat, and he retired ranked third all-time in the NBA for regular season triple-doubles with a career total of 107[5] and third in playoff triple-doubles with a career total of 11.[6] He ranks second on the NBA all-time lists in career assists and steals.[7]