Generally considered one of the best players in the NBA, Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd is known by teammates, opponents and fans as a formidable player. He led the New Jersey Nets to two consecutive NBA finals in 2003 and 2003 before joining up with the Mavericks.

His signing with the Mavericks was something of a homecoming; Kidd began his NBA career with the team before playing for Phoenix and then New Jersey before returning to Dallas in 2008. Only a few months after rejoining the team, he scored his 100th triple-double in the last game of the regular season.

Born in San Francisco, the oldest of 6 children, Jason Kidd would often play on the public city basketball courts in the Oakland area and often against NBA All-Star Gary Payton. The two still talk about those early days.

Jason Kidd earned the Naismith Award while playing for his high school team, being ranked as the top high school player in the nation. He went to college at UC-Berkeley where he also played basketball. He was a finalist for the Naismith and the Wooden Awards as a college player. When he left to enter the NBA draft in 1994, his #5 jersey was retired.

He has been a 9 time NBA All-Star and a member of the All-NBA First team in 1999 through 2002 and again in 2004. Additionally, he has been on the 1995 NBA All-Rookie First Team, won the 2003 NBA Skills Challenge Championship and made the All Defensive First and Second teams every year between 1999 and 2007.

Along with some of the other living legends of the game, Kidd represented the US on the US Men’s Basketball team in 2008′s Summer Olympics, bringing home the gold medal. He has an unbroken 56-0 record in USA Basketball, including exhibition games and also won a gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics!

While Jason’s NBA career was on the right track, his personal life was not. In January of 2001, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to domestic abuse on his wife. He was ordered to attend anger management and counseling. He gave up alcohol, and it was reported that they had reconciled.

Six years later, in 2007, he filed for divorce claiming intense jealousy, paranoia and threats of false abuse charges from his wife. A month later, his wife counter-filed claiming he broke her rib and damaged her hearing by smashing her head into the console of the car. They had three children.

A year later, it was reported that Jason Kidd was expecting another child with girlfriend and model Hope Dworaczyk.

His personal life entirely aside, Kidd is one of the greatest players ever to walk the court. He is one of only two NBA players to score a career total of 14,000 points, 6,600 rebounds and 9,000 assists. Along with Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain, he is one of only three players in the history of the NBA to average triple-doubles for multiple games in playoff series. He is also an all time double triple leader, right behind Magic Johnson’s 138 and Oscar Robertson’s 181, as well as having been named the USA Basketball 2007 Male Athlete of the Year.

Jason Kidd has set milestones during his career with the NBA and the USA Olympic teams. He is an active community service promoter in the Dallas area, sponsoring programs for youth in the community.