{"id":129777,"date":"2026-05-14T17:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/i-got-robbed-grant-hill-admits-hes-bitter-about-having-to-share-huge-career-honor-with-jason-kidd\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:06:15","slug":"i-got-robbed-grant-hill-admits-hes-bitter-about-having-to-share-huge-career-honor-with-jason-kidd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/i-got-robbed-grant-hill-admits-hes-bitter-about-having-to-share-huge-career-honor-with-jason-kidd\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Got Robbed\u201d: Grant Hill Admits He\u2019s Bitter About Having to Share Huge Career Honor With Jason Kidd"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the 1994-95 season, Grant Hill averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, and became the first rookie in NBA history to lead All-Star fan balloting. By any reasonable reading of the numbers, that was a dominant debut. Jason Kidd, his co-winner, averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 7.7 assists. Thirty-one years later, sitting next to Vince Carter<\/a> and Tracy McGrady, Hill finally said what he has apparently been thinking ever since.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the VinceAndTmac show<\/em>, Hill was asked directly, for what seemed like the first time, how he felt going into the 1995 Rookie of the Year announcement. His answer was immediate. \u201cYeah, I got robbed.<\/strong> I got robbed. J-Kid knows that, like I got robbed.\u201d He was quick to separate the grievance from the friendship: \u201cThat\u2019s my guy. We came in together.\u201d The two share a history that predates the NBA by years. \u201cWe were teammates at the Nike camp in high school,\u201d Hill said, before landing the first punchline of the appearance. \u201cI don\u2019t think he passed me the ball one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Nike camp story frames the entire dynamic. Hill was a rising senior, Kidd a rising sophomore, already the floor general, already distributing exactly as he saw fit, which apparently did not include the future third overall pick standing wide open. \u201cHe was a rising sophomore, I\u2019m a rising senior. And he\u2019s supposed to be this point guard, he never passed me the ball at Nike camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vince Carter confirmed he had seen Jason Kidd at that stage, \u201cI saw high school J-Kid. He had bounce,\u201d which only deepened the comedy. The injustice, in Hill\u2019s telling, did not stop at the Nike camp. \u201cThen they beat us in the legendary tournament matchup, where Kyle beat us in the second round. I did have a broken toe, I always remind him of that, and that\u2019s why they won.\u201d He then connected the full arc: \u201cHe goes one spot ahead of me in the draft, and then I got to share the Rookie of the Year with him. So I\u2019m still a little bitter about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1994 NBA Draft saw Kidd go second overall to Dallas<\/a> and Hill go third to Detroit<\/a>, with Glenn Robinson<\/a> going first overall to Milwaukee<\/a>. All three competed for the Rookie of the Year award that season, and when the votes were counted, it came back a tie between the two, a result Hill admitted caught everyone by surprise. \u201cThe idea of sharing that was probably foreign to all of us,\u201d Hill said in a prior interview, noting that the announcement itself came as a shock. The bitterness, clearly, has had three decades to marinate. But Hill has also never lost his perspective on it. \u201cIf I got to share it with somebody, it might as well be him,\u201d he conceded. Then, unable to fully let it go: \u201cGo back and look at the stats. That\u2019s all I\u2019m gonna say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRetired the Same Year, Inducted the Same Year\u201d: How the Rivalry Became a Brotherhood<\/h2>\n

The numbers Grant Hill<\/a> is pointing to do not require much excavation. Hill\u2019s rookie season, 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.8 steals on 47.6% shooting, was one of the most complete debut campaigns the league had seen from a forward in years. Jason Kidd\u2019s 11.7 points, 7.7 assists, and league-leading triple-doubles made the statistical case from a different angle, a point guard who immediately transformed the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> from a 13-win team the year before his arrival into a 36-win side, a 23-game turnaround that carried its own weight with voters. Whether one deserved it outright over the other is a legitimate debate. Hill\u2019s position is clear: he deserved it outright, and he has been making that case quietly, and now very publicly, ever since.<\/p>\n

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