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Justice & Law Quote by Jason Kidd

"When I was a little kid, I used to play with guys twice my age, so I was the last one picked, so if I picked I knew that I had to get the ball to the scorer if I wanted to stay on the court, so that was pretty much my job"

About this Quote

It is not a fairy tale about natural talent; it is a survival manual disguised as a childhood memory. Jason Kidd frames his identity as a point guard less as destiny than as adaptation: playing “with guys twice my age” means living in a constant mismatch, physically and socially. Being “the last one picked” is the earliest form of basketball’s market logic - you are valued only insofar as you help other people win. Kidd’s lesson is blunt: if you want “to stay on the court,” you make yourself indispensable.

The subtext is about learning power dynamics before you can name them. On a playground, hierarchy is immediate and unforgiving. Kidd doesn’t romanticize grit; he describes a role. “Get the ball to the scorer” reads like humility, but it’s also strategy. When you’re the smallest, you can’t demand touches; you control the game by controlling access. Passing becomes leverage. The “job” language is telling: he’s talking about labor, not play, and that’s why it lands. It echoes how many kids learn to navigate older peers - by being useful, by reading the room, by trading ego for inclusion.

Contextually, it’s an origin story for a specific kind of star: the facilitator whose dominance is indirect. Kidd’s greatness always carried that paradox. He didn’t need to be the loudest or the flashiest; he needed to be the one everyone else depended on. The quote turns a childhood slight into a professional ethos: status comes later. First, you earn minutes.

Quote Details

TopicTeamwork
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Kidd, Jason. (2026, February 16). When I was a little kid, I used to play with guys twice my age, so I was the last one picked, so if I picked I knew that I had to get the ball to the scorer if I wanted to stay on the court, so that was pretty much my job. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-used-to-play-with-guys-100381/

Chicago Style
Kidd, Jason. "When I was a little kid, I used to play with guys twice my age, so I was the last one picked, so if I picked I knew that I had to get the ball to the scorer if I wanted to stay on the court, so that was pretty much my job." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-used-to-play-with-guys-100381/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When I was a little kid, I used to play with guys twice my age, so I was the last one picked, so if I picked I knew that I had to get the ball to the scorer if I wanted to stay on the court, so that was pretty much my job." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-used-to-play-with-guys-100381/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.

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About the Author

Jason Kidd

Jason Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is a Athlete from USA.

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