Jason Kidd's tenure as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks came to an end Monday afternoon after 3 1/2 seasons in charge.

He took the Bucks to the playoffs twice, including last season, but in each trip they lost in the first round. Following the Eric Bledsoe trade, the Bucks went on a strong run but have been struggling ever since. Entering Monday's games, the Bucks were just barely hanging on to the eighth seed in the East.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the move to fire Kidd was made in part because of the fact that the team was underperforming, as well as frayed relationships within the front office.

According to Kidd, however, the move wouldn't have been made at all if it was up to the team's young superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Kidd told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that Giannis offered to do whatever he could to save Kidd's job. He offered to make calls to both the Bucks owners and his agents. Kidd, however, told him there was nothing he could do.

It's pretty interesting that Kidd decided to make this conversation public, and it certainly puts a strange twist on the events in Milwaukee. 

For starters, it makes Giannis look great, though it's unlikely he expected the conversation to go public. But regardless, that he would offer to go to those lengths to save his coach's job shows he's a team player. 

In addition, Kidd is also looking out for himself a bit here. In publicly claiming he had the star player's support, he might be trying to make himself look good in advance of potentially getting another job. And at the very least, he gets to throw a wrench in the Bucks' plans on his way out the door. His comments will certainly make things a bit awkward in Milwaukee.