As San Antonians will recall, Jason and his wife, Joumanna, were "wined and dined like foreign dignitaries" by the Spurs last July. For two whirlwind days the Kidds were whisked through San Antonio and treated to a lavish private dinner at the home of coach Gregg Popovich. The team put the couple up at the most extravagant hotel they could find. Tim and Amy Duncan even took them for a private driving tour of the city- as TV station helicopters followed their every move.
Joumana may not have been impressed, but Jason was. Very.
When he got back to New Jersey, Jason was prepared to tell the Nets he would not be coming back.
"I felt like I was on my way (to San Antonio)," said Kidd.
But something happened that changed his mind.
"San Antonio was a team I thought about going to, but once I made my decision, that was the end of that topic," Kidd said before playing the Mavericks last night. "Once I made the decision, that was it.
"You can always look back and say, 'What if?' But that's not going to help anything. I was happy with the decision I made to stay in New Jersey."
No matter what Jason says now. It wasn't that easy- or simple.
Kidd was truly torn between the Nets and the Spurs.
Joumana knew that Mourning and Kidd were close and if she could help convince him to come play in the shadows of the Big Apple, Jason would feel better about staying.
Joumana even asked 4-year-old son, T.J. to tell his dad how he felt.
"He did get a vote," Kidd said. "He was all for staying in New Jersey. He loves his school and friends. He didn't want to go down to the Alamo and pick out new friends.
Kidd later told the press how Joumana felt about the move. "Joumana felt good in New Jersey so it would have been hard to leave."
And if there is any doubt that Joumana didn't want to have anything to do with South Texas, an account in today's San Antonio Express-News says it all.
Nice guy- veteran sports writer Mike Monroe, who recently moved to San Antonio and got a gig with the paper says in his column that a mutual friend introduced him to Joumana Kidd last weekend.
"I told her how excited I was to be a brand new San Antonian, discovering what an interesting, welcoming community we have in South Texas," writes Monroe.
"Please," she said, rolling her eyes, "don't go there."
