Stephen Jesse Jackson (born April 5, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jackson played with numerous teams during his career, including the New Jersey Nets, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Clippers. Jackson won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2003. Jackson emerged as an activist and spokesman for civil rights during the Black Lives Matter movement. He is currently the Head Coach for the DMV Trilogy of the BIG3 Summer Basketball League.
Early life and education Jackson was born in Houston, Texas, and spent his childhood in Port Arthur, Texas. He was raised by his mother, Judyette, a single parent who worked two jobs. As a teenager, Jackson worked in his grandfather's soul food restaurant in Port Arthur, where he washed dishes and bus tables.
When Jackson was 16, his half-brother, Donald Buckner Jr., died at the age of 25 from head injuries after being struck in the head with a glass bottle. Following the violent tragedy, Jackson said that he wished he could have been there to assist and protect a member of his family. "You can't tell me seeing his brother die that way hasn't had an effect," recalls Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh. "To me, it's why he is always coming to the help of his teammates."
Jackson led Lincoln High School to a state championship in his junior year. However, facing academic "ineligibility" at Lincoln, he transferred to Oak Hill Academy (Virginia), where he earned All-American honors in 1996. He was the leading scorer in the 1996 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, on a team that included Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal and Tim Thomas.
Following a commitment to join the University of Arizona, Jackson was deemed academically ineligible due to his low SAT and ACT scores. He instead attended Butler County Community College of El Dorado, Kansas for one semester; he did not play basketball there. Prior to the 1997 NBA draft, Jackson participated in several pickup games with the Phoenix Suns after family friend Virginia Bibby (mother of NBA player Mike Bibby) brought him to the Suns arena during tryouts. Jackson's strong play, and particularly his fearlessness against the Suns' Cedric Ceballos, is largely what led to team president Danny Ainge to draft him months later.
Professional career
CBA and foreign leagues (1997–2000) Jackson was selected 42nd overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, yet did not play as he was waived by the team on October 30. Following this development, Jackson then saw action in six games with the La Crosse Bobcats over two on-and-off seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), in which he averaged 2.7 points in 12.7 minutes per game. Additionally, Jackson played four games in 1998 with the Sydney Kings in Australia's National Basketball League. Continuing his basketball journey, Jackson played professionally in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Throughout the spring and summer of 2000, Jackson played in those Latin American countries, with the Dominican Republic teams San Carlos and Pueblo Nuevo and the Venezuelan team the Marinos. In the 1999 season in Venezuela, Jackson played 48 games and averaged 22.8 points (third in the league), 3.9 assists and 3 steals per game, shooting 42.6% from three (second in the league).
New Jersey Nets (2000–2001) Jackson did not play an NBA game until the 2000–01 season with the New Jersey Nets, officially deemed his rookie season. He appeared in 77 games (including 40 starts), in which he averaged 8.2 points per game, and established a close friendship with star point guard Stephon Marbury. The Nets did not have interest in retaining him.
San Antonio Spurs (2001–2003) Before the 2001–2002 NBA season, Jackson was signed by the San Antonio Spurs. He was hampered by injuries, missing 45 games. Former assistant coach Mike Brown stated: "The first year we had him in San Antonio, he was on the (injured reserve) most of the year. At first, he didn't understand why because he probably was the most talented player we had on that team, but he needed to mature a little bit so we stuck him there to see how he would respond. He was the best teammate on our team that first year. He was juiced at practice ready to play and compete and make the starters better, and it carried over into his second year when he got his opportunity to get out onto the floor and prove he could be a vital part of the organization." His season averages were 3.9 points and 1.1 rebounds, logging approximately 9.9 minutes per game. During the 2002–2003 NBA season, Jackson became a key member of the Spurs. Appearing in 80 games (58 starts), his season averages were 11.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 28.2 minutes per game. During the team's run in the 2003 NBA Playoffs, Jackson proved to be a vital asset and helped the Spurs win their second NBA title, averaging 12.8 points per game during the playoffs –- the team's 3rd leading scorer. Jackson's first foray into the playoffs produced variable results in terms of individual performances. Through the course of the postseason, Jackson vacillated between fourth quarter heroics and clutch shooting (elimination games of the Western Conference Finals versus the Dallas Mavericks and NBA Finals versus the New Jersey Nets) and uneven, mistake-prone play (26 turnovers in the 6-game championship series).
Atlanta Hawks (2003–2004) In 2003, Jackson became a free agent during the offseason and expected to parlay his success with the Spurs into a long-term contract. After rejecting an initial offer by the Spurs, he and his agent were criticized by sports media for miscalculating the market. Eventually, Jackson agreed to a 2-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks. Registering his best professional season to date, Jackson established season averages of 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in 80 total games (78 starts). On March 12, against the Washington Wizards, Jackson scored a career-best 42 points. In the 29 games following the All-Star Break, Jackson averaged 24.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. During this stretch, he was the NBA's 6th leading scorer.
Following the 2003–04 NBA season, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers for power forward Al Harrington (who finished 2nd place in Sixth Man of the Year voting), after signing a 6-year, $38.3 million contract.
Indiana Pacers (2004–2007)
During his first season as a member of the Indiana Pacers in the 2004–05 NBA season, Jackson tallied averages of 18.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.
On November 19, 2004, during The Malice at the Palace, Jackson was involved in a brawl with fans in the stands at The Palace of Auburn Hills. In the aftermath, Jackson was suspended for 30 games without pay, thereby losing $1.7 million in salary. He was also put on probation for a year, fined $250, and ordered to undergo anger management classes and perform 60 hours of community service. After he failed to complete the terms of the sentence he received, his probation was extended one year.
Indiana's once promising post-season possibilities were marred by the suspension of starting small forward Ron Artest. Jackson averaged 18.9 points per game during the first round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs versus the Boston Celtics. A series loss in the next round at the hands of the Detroit Pistons ended their season, with Jackson leading the team in scoring during the playoffs with an average of 16.1 points per game.
In the 2005–06 NBA season, Jackson appeared in 81 games for the Pacers, averaging 16.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. A notable exhibition of Jackson's scoring ability came during a 31-point performance in a midseason victory over the Sacramento Kings, in which he made 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions. Jackson tied the Kings franchise record for the most 3-pointers in a quarter by an opponent. As the playoff push ensued, he tallied an average of 20.2 points per game in the month of April.
On October 6, 2006, Jackson and three other Pacers players had an argument with several patrons at Club Rio, a strip club in Indianapolis. Jackson was punched by one of the patrons and was hit by a car, rolling onto the hood. His injuries were minor. Jackson, who was on probation in Michigan after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges there for his part in the “Malice at the Palace”, fired several gunshots from a 9-mm pistol, he asserted as an act of self-defense. However, prosecutors later said he fired first. Jackson was charged October 11, 2006, with a felony count of criminal recklessness, and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct. He pled guilty to a felony count of criminal recklessness, received one year of probation, and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service. Because he had no prior felony convictions, he was eligible to receive misdemeanor sentencing despite pleading guilty to the felony. He served a seven-game suspension at the beginning of the 2007–08 NBA season as a Warrior for his legal problems.
Golden State Warriors (2007–2009)
On January 17, 2007, the Pacers dealt Jackson to the Golden State Warriors in a blockbuster eight player trade. Along with Al Harrington, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, and Josh Powell, Jackson was swapped for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod of the Warriors.
Jackson registered 29 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals in his Warriors debut, January 20, 2007, versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. On February 5, when Golden State traveled to Conseco Fieldhouse to compete against Jackson's former team, he tallied 36 points and led the Warriors to a 113–98 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Jackson joined Vince Carter and Dominique Wilkins as the only players in 25 years to amass 30 or more points against a team that they played for earlier in the season.
In the Warriors 4–2 series victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, Jackson garnered both positive and negative publicity. In what some consider the biggest upset in NBA history, Jackson was ejected from Games 2 and 5. The latter decision, in Game 5, was heavily criticized as Jackson appeared to be merely applauding at the end of the game to lift the spirits of his teammates, and not sarcastically at a referee. However, Jackson redeemed himself by playing well the entire series, especially in the series-clinching Game 6, where Jackson tallied 33 points on a then franchise playoff-record 7 three-pointers. This team playoff record has since been matched or exceeded 25 times by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Baron Davis, who suffered a slight hamstring injury in the 1st quarter of Game 6, shares his thoughts regarding Jackson: "I told him (Stephen Jackson) I'll give it all I got and I didn't want to be the hardest worker out there. He had to carry me. He is the leader of this team and if you ask anyone on this team, he is the heart and soul of this team. He is a big-game performer and he knew just how important this game was. He is the only one on our team to have won a championship, so we had to feed off of him."
Jackson finished the series with per-game averages of 22.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.0 steals. In the Conference Semifinals, the Warriors were dispatched by a physical Utah Jazz team in 5 games. Jackson struggled due to the defensive tandem of Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring and his offensive output decreased from the previous series.