Jason Smith

The conference finals are in full swing and the Mavericks' season has been over for weeks, but Dallas still made headlines when it mutually parted ways with head coach Jason Kidd on Tuesday.

The surprising move came just a couple of weeks after the team introduced Masai Ujiri as its new president of basketball operations. With Kidd gone, Ujiri will get to hire his own coach and Kidd will look for a fresh start elsewhere after five rather eventful seasons as the Mavs' head coach.

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The news came out Tuesday evening just before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and the Cavaliers. During the postgame show on ESPN, Inside the NBA's Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith spent time offering their thoughts on Kidd's departure.

The crew found out the news when they were live on air and Barkley was visibly surprised.

See Barkley's viral reaction and what they each had to say after the game below.

Barkley: I'm kind of surprised, but I see $40 million [Kidd's remaining salary in Dallas], I want to go that direction. Jason is a heck of a coach. I think Masai, you know how much respect we have for him. I think he's just amazing, but I think he's probably got somebody in mind. You don't fire Jason Kidd unless you have somebody you want in mind, and I have great respect for Jason and Masai, but you know what? When you get a new job, you get to hire the people you want to hire. But Jason, I don't think there's any jobs open. He's probably out until next year. He did a heck of a job down in Dallas, but I understand Masai, he wants to get his own people around him, and good luck to him, because they got that young boy [Cooper] Flagg, who's the real deal. Kyrie [Irving] comes back next year, and that's a good job.

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O'Neal: Whoever they pick, hopefully the new coach could take them to that next level. Jason Kidd had a hell of a run in Dallas, but you know, Masai is in charge now, so like Chuck said, he's probably going to bring in his own people, I wouldn't mind seeing Jason Kidd for that Orlando job.

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Smith: We talk about Dallas, Jason Kidd, he created an element of culture, of winning, an expectation of winning, so he did his job, but obviously when they fired Nico Harrison, and then all of a sudden now you bring in Masai, this is the last leg of that era. This is the new Mavs coming in now, and Jason Kidd doesn't have to worry about it, one, he has $40 million left, and two, he can get a job, so I guess they said, "Okay, we're going to just usher out all of that era, and now we're going to start again."