{"id":524686,"date":"2026-03-09T14:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524686\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:29:08","slug":"ryan-nembhard-learning-from-legendary-jason-kidd-in-rookie-season-with-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524686\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Nembhard learning from legendary Jason Kidd in rookie season with Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Ryan Nembhard<\/a>\u2019s had many great influences in his basketball career. His father Claude is the chief executive officer of the Ontario Basketball Association, his brother Andrew is the starting point guard for the Indiana Pacers<\/a>, he grew up around Toronto Raptors<\/a> star RJ Barrett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But now Jason Kidd \u2014 one of the best point guards in NBA history \u2014 is his head coach on the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The youngest Nembhard signed a two-way deal with the Mavericks in July and he has become a fixture in Dallas\u2019s rotation, appearing in 43 games so far this season.<\/p>\n

The native of Aurora, Ont., said that he\u2019s enjoyed learning from Kidd, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as an individual in 2018 and again in 2025 as a member of the so-called Redeem Team that won men\u2019s Olympic basketball gold for the United States in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the greatest guards to ever do it, a super high basketball IQ and just understanding of the game,\u201d said Nembhard on Sunday before Toronto routed the Mavericks 122-92. \u201cHe\u2019s taught me a lot, and it\u2019s been nice to learn from him and take a lot in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Nembhard played two seasons of U.S. collegiate ball at Creighton before transferring to Gonzaga for two more years of NCAA basketball. In the 2024-25 season Nembhard averaged 10.5 points, 9.8 assists and three rebounds over 35 games for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

His 344 assists were the most of any NCAA men\u2019s basketball player that season.<\/p>\n

Despite that collegiate success, Nembhard said he still has room to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a learning process, obviously, but it\u2019s been good,\u201d said Nembhard in the visitors\u2019 locker room at Scotiabank Arena. \u201cVets and the team in general have been helping me out throughout the process, just learning on the fly. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve picked it up pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nembhard was averaging 6.6 points, 4.7 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 0.3 steals over 18.5 minutes per game heading into Sunday. He had two points, two assists, a rebound and a steal in five minutes of play against the Raptors.<\/p>\n

Kidd said that Nembhard isn\u2019t afraid of NBA-calibre competition and that having an older brother in the league likely helps, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he understands what it means to work and be counted on. He deserves that contract,\u201d said Kidd. \u201cHe\u2019s played extremely well for us, and we need him to do that for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett, who grew up playing with Andrew Nembhard<\/a>, said that Ryan Nembhard<\/a> has \u201calways been around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHim and my little brother (Nathan) were roommates at Montverde Academy (a prep school in Florida) and everything,\u201d said Barrett. \u201cSo, Ryan\u2019s like a little brother to me, and it\u2019s great to see him out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Barrett with a laugh: \u201cHe stole the ball from me, though. I\u2019m just happy to see him out there getting a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Ryan Nembhard\u2019s had many great influences in his basketball career. His father Claude is the chief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-524686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}