NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets first-year coach Jason Kidd was suspended for the team's first two games of the regular season after pleading guilty in July to driving while ability impaired, the NBA said Friday.
Kidd will miss the Nets' opener Oct. 30 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the home opener Nov. 1 against the Miami Heat. Kidd will make his regular-season coaching debut Nov. 3 against the Orlando Magic.
Lead assistant coach Lawrence Frank will likely serve as head coach during Kidd's suspension.
"I think we all knew that was going to come at some point," Kidd said Friday after practice at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "You have to be responsible and the league came down with the suspension, and I accept that. If a player's out, guys have got to step up. ... My coaching staff is more than capable of stepping up."
League precedent is a two-game suspension for pleading guilty to DWI-related charges, so the suspension was expected.
"The decision is consistent with what the league has done in the past, and we look forward to Jason leading our team versus Orlando and the rest of the year," Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement.
Kidd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge and was placed on interim probation for a year after he smashed his Cadillac SUV into a utility pole on eastern Long Island in the Hamptons community of Water Mill on July 15, 2012. Kidd must complete community service of speaking to students on Long Island about the dangers of drinking and driving.
He was returning from a charity function before the crash. A Southampton Town Police report noted that Kidd was unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and glassy eyes. He was treated for minor injuries at an area hospital.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
