Background and career
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.
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.
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).
Jackson did not play in a 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.
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).
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.
