Flash back to 1996, Jason Kidd is just a year off his great Rookie of the year season. Then a few games into his 3rd season the point guard is traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Phoenix Suns. Breaking up what Dallas thought to be the next generation of Big 3 with Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn. Ever since that trade rumors about what cause the abrupt trade, one of the main rumors is that singer Toni Braxton is the cause.
The story goes that singer Toni Braxton stopped by the Mavs’ hotel in Atlanta to pick up her date for the evening — Kidd — but left with Jackson instead. And then milked the ensuing publicity for all it was worth, telling a reporter who asked about the situation, “I’ve at least heard of them [but] as far as dating, whether it’s true or not, I can never kiss and tell.” Kidd demanded a trade — either him or Jackson — and the Mavs dealt him to the Suns. Jackson exited just a few months later . But both denied Braxton caused the rift. “I don’t know how many times we have to say it,” Jackson said. “He says it, I say it, it’s never happened. It’s ridiculous…I’ve never met her,” Kidd said long after. “But those type of things hurt a young team. We didn’t know how to handle it.”
Jimmy Jackson was on Colin Cowherd’s show and address the rumor that this caused the break-up. Here is what Jimmy had to say about, Kidd and Toni Braxton.
“I sit there and laugh about it,” Jackson told Cowherd. “I wish it would’ve happened. If it would’ve happened, it would’ve had more meat to it. I could’ve patted myself on the chest and said, ‘It really did happen.’ But it didn’t. … To this day I still get asked about it.”
