MILWAUKEE – As has been the case nearly every time he’s returned as the visiting team’s coach, Jason Kidd’s past and present melded Tuesday night in Fiserv Forum. Usually, he sits in the same interview room during pregame and gets asked about his role as the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach from 2014-18 in turning young star Giannis Antetokounmpo into a two-time NBA MVP and an NBA champion. On this ...

The Dallas Mavericks' Cooper Flagg, right, drives against the Milwaukee Bucks' Pete Nance during the fourth quarter at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Milwaukee.

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images North America/TNS

MILWAUKEE – As has been the case nearly every time he’s returned as the visiting team’s coach, Jason Kidd’s past and present melded Tuesday night in Fiserv Forum.

Usually, he sits in the same interview room during pregame and gets asked about his role as the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach from 2014-18 in turning young star Giannis Antetokounmpo into a two-time NBA MVP and an NBA champion.

On this night, Antetokounmpo was sidelined with an injury, but Kidd’s philosophy of a decade ago was on full display in the form of Mavericks rookie sensation Cooper Flagg, albeit in a predictable 123-99 loss to Milwaukee.

Coming off a 30-point home loss to Minnesota, the Mavericks didn’t arrive here until after 2 a.m., and it showed Tuesday night. Flagg, though, rebounded from his 12-point output against the Timberwolves with 19 points and 10 rebounds against the Bucks.

Another successful learning experience, Kidd called it, noting that the Timberwolves, gearing for a postseason run, gameplanned Flagg with physicality as if he were a playoff foe.

“Unfortunately, he will not participate in the playoffs [this year], but he understands now what Minnesota did last night was all about playoffs, the physicality and the things that they were doing to him,” Kidd said. “That's something that the great ones have all gone through.”

Kidd referenced the way the Detroit Pistons used to play Michael Jordan with extra bodies and physicality in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It’s interesting that Kidd mentioned Jordan – because roughly 15 minutes earlier Milwaukee coach and soon-to-be anointed Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Doc Rivers also cited Jordan.

Rivers recalled that Jordan’s first coach in Chicago, Doug Collins, often used Jordan as a point guard – allowing him to make mistakes, but also speeding up his learning curve in adjusting to the NBA.

That’s also essentially what Kidd did with Antetokounmpo.

And it’s what Kidd did early this season with Flagg.

“I think it’s genius,” Rivers said, citing how far Flagg has come since the other time these teams met this season, on Nov. 10 in Dallas.

Rivers described the not-too-distant future, when Kyrie Irving is expected to return to the court next season.

"That's just scary to think about,” Rivers said. Having Irving and Flagg together will give Dallas two playmakers and savvy decision-makers on the court.

“You’ve got his ability to handle the ball, his ability to get downhill, create plays,” Rivers said of Flagg. “You can see it all changing each game for him, there was a point in this season where it slowed down for him, for sure.

“And you can visually see the difference in the way he plays and the way he attacks the game.”

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