Is former NBA coach and announcer Mark Jackson being treated unfairly?

He’s one of the most accomplished point guards in NBA history, but Mark Jackson has been somewhat of a punching bag since his playing days ended. Some (like Jackson himself) would say he’s been treated unfairly. He posted an Instagram video in November 2023 where he denounced those in the media and the internet who spread lies about him. All statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

The role of a point guard has changed somewhat in the modern NBA, but Jackson played the position in its purest form, as Bleacher Report noted.

His value on the floor was predicated on getting his teammates open looks, and his career statistics show he was one of the best ever at doing so. Jackson finished with 10,334 assists, which is the sixth highest in NBA history.

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It made perfect sense that Jackson would eventually go into coaching due to his natural ability to visualize what was happening on the floor as a player. The Golden State Warriors would give Jackson his big break on the bench, naming him as their head coach in June 2011.

They had a promising young core which featured the likes of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Jackson was instrumental in the development of those players, as the franchise broke out in 2012-2013. They won 47 regular season games, and made it to the second round of the playoffs, giving the San Antonio Spurs a competitive series.

In 2013-2014, the Warriors lost to a veteran Los Angeles Clippers team in seven games in the first round.

Despite laying the foundation for future success, Jackson was let go after the loss to the Clippers.

It was a strange decision, considering that Golden State was an ascending franchise, and Jackson had to have some role in that progress. ESPN noted how successful Jackson was in comparison to previous Golden State coaches. Be that as it may, the organization hired Steve Kerr to replace Jackson, and the rest is history.

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Despite his solid record with the Warriors, Jackson hasn’t received another chance to coach since that dismissal. There seems to be a negative perception about him in NBA circles. Jackson himself addressed this with CBS Sports. Rumor had it that he was not the easiest person to get along with in the organization. It was also said that Jackson tried to force his religious beliefs on players and coaches in the locker room.

Even though Jackson hasn’t gotten another coaching job, he remained close to the game as ABC’s lead color commentator alongside Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen. He worked with them from 2007-2011 before he went into coaching, and again from 2014-2023 after the Warriors run. Jackson had some one-liners that were either embraced or mocked by the NBA community, as Bleacher Report detailed.

In what appeared to be a cost-cutting frenzy, ESPN/ABC released much of their on-air talent in the summer of 2023, including Jackson. This came as a bit of a surprise, as the network had already parted ways with Van Gundy, but apparently decided that it was best for Breen to work with two different analysts ahead of the 2023-2024 season.

Jackson appeared to have a part-time gig as a fill-in New York Knicks commentator locked in, which made sense considering Breen is their play by play man, and regular analyst Walt Clyde Frazier is pushing 80 years old. As the season crept closer, Yardbarker indicated that it was pretty much a done deal that the former Knicks point guard would be at the mic for certain games.

In November, it was reported that the Knicks were not bringing Jackson on to their announcing team. Complex reported that New York banned Jackson from the team plane, and cited his frosty relationship with current Knicks assistant Darren Erman, who worked under Jackson in Golden State. It was this string of events that prompted Jackson to post his Instagram video.

In the video, Jackson vehemently denied the reports that he was dismissed by the team, and said he turned the job down because it wasn’t the best fit for him at this time. Jackson sounded like a man who was on the verge of breaking, and given some of the adversity he’s faced in the last decade, many believe that he had every right to speak out to clear his name.

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In February 2024, Jackson announced that he was starting his own podcast, co-hosted by his son Mark Jackson Jr. "Launching this podcast with my son is an incredible thrill," the former NBA player told Urban Magazine's website.