“ Come on, at some point the lies have to stop. » Mark Jackson used video format on Instagram to answer to an article from the New York Postwho assured that the Knicks would not have gone through with his recruitment, for a commentator position, due to an old quarrel with an assistant.
According to the New York mediaMark Jackson, « shocked and dismayed » having been thanked by ESPN this summer, was preparing to return to the airwaves, to follow the matches of his former team.
MSG Networks had planned for him to occasionally replace Clyde Frazier this season, but the tabloid assures that the management of the Knicks, led by Leon Rose, would have put an end to this arrangement in part because of an old feud between Mark Jackson and a Knicks assistant.
Former assistant fired for recordings
The assistant in question, Darren Erman, was fired by the Warriors in 2014, after three years of service with his first NBA franchise, when Mark Jackson was there as head coach.
ESPN then reported that the technician’s right-hand man had been fired by the club… because he secretly recorded all the conversations that took place within the staff. For leaders, who distrusted their “head coach”? In any case, the behavior had been judge ” inexcusable » by Mark Jackson.
Despite this dismissal, Darren Erman bounced back the following year with the Celtics, then continued his career as an assistant with the Pelicans and finally with the Knicks, where he has been working since 2020. Mark Jackson, for his part, has not had any other coaching experience from his three years with the Warriors.
The idea, in recruiting him as a Knicks commentator, would have been to reform his duo with Mike Breen, a long-time companion on ESPN. But the prospect of seeing him travel with the team, and therefore of meeting Darren Erman, would have called his arrival into question according to the New York Post.
A reunion later?
“ I have sat on the sidelines, year after year, listening to lies that question me as an individual. What I represent, my education. I stayed back and didn’t say anything », says the former playmaker today, in his clarification.
“ Today an article was published that I have been fired or removed as Knicks game announcer. I was honored and privileged to have an offer to support legend Walt Clyde Frazier in hosting Knicks games. “, continues Mark Jackson, repeating several times: “ Over a week ago, I turned down this position. The conditions were not ideal. It wasn’t the ideal time for me. »
We will not know what “conditions” these are. We guess, however, that the person concerned, approached in 2018 by the Knicks, does not rule out being involved with the franchise in the future: “ They say once a Knick, always a Knick. I have blue and orange blood. I dreamed of playing for the Knicks, commentating on Knicks games. It would have been a dream come true, but it didn’t work out. But you never know what the future holds. »
With the Mark Jackson track closed, Wally Szczerbiak will replace Hall of Famer Walt Frazier if necessary.
