Jason Kidd was suspended for the Brooklyn Nets’ first two games of the regular season after pleading guilty in July to driving while ability impaired, the NBA announced on Oct. 4. Kidd is in his first-year as the Nets head coach after retiring from a 19-year career in the NBA in June.
Kidd will miss the Nets’ opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 30, and the home opener against the Miami Heat on Nov. 1. He will return to the sidelines at Orlando on Nov. 3, against the Magic.
Top assistant coach Lawrence Frank will likely serve as head coach during Kidd's suspension.
"I think we all knew that was going to come at some point," Kidd said Friday after practice at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "You have to be responsible and the league came down with the suspension, and I accept that. If a player's out, guys have got to step up. ... My coaching staff is more than capable of stepping up."
League precedent is a two-game suspension for pleading guilty to DWI-related charges, so the suspension was expected.
"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.
Kidd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge and was placed on interim probation for a year after he smashed his Cadillac SUV into a utility pole on eastern Long Island in the Hamptons community of Water Mill on July 15, 2012.
He was returning from a charity function before the crash. A Southampton Town Police report noted that Kidd was unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and glassy eyes. He was treated for minor injuries at an area hospital.
Kidd spoke to students on Long Island, last week, about the dangers of drinking and driving. He also paid a $500 fine and his license was suspended for 90 days, according to a spokeswoman for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.
