Mark Jackson has had a rough year.
Fans tuning into the first ESPN games of the 2023-24 NBA season are still getting used to hearing different voices on the broadcast.
Instead of hearing longtime broadcast partners Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy alongside Mike Breen, we are hearing Doris Burke and Doc Rivers because ESPN let go of both Jackson and Van Gundy in a mass layoff to cut costs.
Things have only gotten worse for Jackson as now he will not be working for the Knicks.
He was dismissed from his job at Madison Square Garden and the team also banned him from the team plane.
Via the New York Post:
“MSG Network planned on having Jackson occasionally fill in for Clyde Frazier this season, but Knicks management, led by team president Leon Rose, put a kibosh on the arrangement in part due to an old quarrel with Jackson and an assistant coach, according to sources.”
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Back in 2014, Darren Erman, a current Knicks assistant, was fired by Jackson who was working as head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Erman was an assistant on his staff.
Controversy kicked off when ESPN reported Erman had taped Jackson and players unbeknownst to them. Jackson later called Erman’s actions “inexcusable” and he would soon lose his coaching job later that same year.
MSG pursued Jackson to work when Frazier was off. When it comes to allowing Jackson on the team plane, hotel, or team bus — team president Leon Rose had the final say. All other TV broadcasters are permitted to travel and room with the team,
The 58-year-old was expected to call all of the Knicks’ five games on their current trip. With Jackson out, Wally Szczerbiak is filling in for Frazier as MSG’s game analyst.
Jackson starred as a point guard with the Knicks in the 90s.
