Kidd Is Traded to Suns for Cassell, Finley, Green

The “Three Js” are now two.

Jason Kidd and two other players were traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night for Sam Cassell, A.C. Green, Michael Finley and a second-round draft choice.

It was the first blockbuster trade of the NBA season and sent a wealth of young talent to a pair of struggling teams.

Kidd, who has feuded with his teammates and was unhappy with the system installed by new Coach Jim Cleamons, was traded along with Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer, two players who have played sparingly this season for Dallas.

The Suns gave up three players who have struggled to find playing time on one of the deepest--albeit unsuccessful--teams in the league.

Cassell, who was acquired by the Suns in the trade that sent Charles Barkley to the Houston Rockets, was leading Phoenix in scoring at 14.8 points per game despite being the backup to Kevin Johnson.

Finley, a first-round draft pick of the Suns in 1995, has averaged 13 points--down from his rookie average of 15.0.

Green, the former Laker who has played in 840 consecutive games--the third longest streak in NBA history--was averaging 5.7 points and 5.1 rebounds for the Suns, who lost their first 13 games and underwent a coaching change earlier this season.

Kidd received news at Reunion Arena before the start of the Dallas-Golden State game.

“I didn’t have any sense I was going to be traded,” he said. “I’m excited to be going to Phoenix, but I’m also sad to be leaving a lot of good friends here.”

At the start of the season, Kidd was considered to be the franchise player for the Mavericks. But as Dallas went 9-16 in its first 25 games, Kidd expressed a desire to play more of an uptempo style--as he had under former coach Dick Motta.

“I was trying to do my best at what he [Cleamons] wanted,” Kidd said. “But this might work out for me. Danny [Ainge] likes to get up and down, and there’s a lot of talent there.”

Kidd, who has sat out Dallas’ last three games because of a sprained neck, averaged 9.9 points, 9.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds this season. In his three NBA seasons, which included an all-star appearance last year, his shooting percentage has gone down each season.

His presence, along with that of Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn, was supposed to give the Mavericks a trio of stars to help the team rebuild after going 11-71 in 1992-93 and 13-69 in 1993-94.

But the “Three Js,” as they were known, never meshed. Kidd and Jackson had a falling out last season and barely spoke to each other, and Mashburn missed the final 64 games last season with a knee injury.

“There was so much made of the three Js, but we never had time to really grow,” Kidd said. “We never had that opportunity. We were never given a decent shot.

Meyer, a second-year center from Iowa State, averaged 4.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 19 games.

Dumas, a third-year shooting guard, averaged 4.0 points and shot 35% in 18 games. Dumas averaged 11.6 points last season, but his playing time was cut considerably by Cleamons.

Dallas also acquired a second-round draft pick in 1997 or 1998.