Mark A. Jackson is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
He played college basketball for the St. John’s Red Storm and was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 1987 NBA Draft with the 18th overall pick. He played in the NBA for the Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in a career spanning from 1987 to 2004.
Bio/Wiki
Age-58years
Height- 1.85 m
Weight- 88 kg
Born- 1 April 1965
Birthplace – Brooklyn, New York, United States
Full name – Mark A. Jackson
Profession – Basketball Player
Spouse – Desiree Coleman (m. 1990–2017)
Nationality-American
Date joined-1987 (New York Knicks)
Team coached – Golden State Warriors (Head coach, 2011–2014)
Family
Parents information are not available of Mark Jackson, he grew up in St. Louis, Queens, New York. Albans County. He was considered one of the nation’s elite guards while attending Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn under coach Patrick Quigley. Jackson became famous as a street voter in New York.
Wife
Jackson married singer and actress Desiree Coleman on July 29, 1990. Jackson and Coleman divorced in 2017 after 27 years of marriage.
Children
They have four children. Christian Jackson, Mark Jackson Jr., Micah Jackson, Heavyn Jackson.
His son Mark Jackson Jr. played for the Manhattan Jaspers during the 2012–13 season after transferring from the University of Louisville.
Net Worth
Mark Jackson has an estimated net worth of $6 million.
Career
Jackson was the 18th pick of the 1987 NBA draft by the New York Knicks.He teamed with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley to make the Knicks a premier playoff team in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before the Knicks reached the playoffs, however, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1992.
Indiana Pacers (1994–1996)
On June 30, 1994, the Indiana Pacers traded the draft rights to Pooh Richardson, Malik Sealy and Eric Piatkowski for Jackson and the draft rights to Greg Minor. With the Pacers, he spent the next five seasons working with Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Antonio Davis and Dale Davis to make the Indiana Pacers a contender.
Jackson was traded to the Denver Nuggets before the 1996–97 NBA season started for Jalen Rose.
Jackson’s return sparked the Pacers, but they continued to miss the playoffs for the only time in a decade and a half. Jackson finally appeared in his only NBA Finals as the Pacers’ starting point guard in 2000, a six-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
2001-2002 New York Knicks
Jackson was traded to the Knicks, along with Muggsy Bogues (who was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks without playing a game for the Knicks), for Chris Childs on February 22, 2001.
2002-2003 Utah Jazz
On October 2, 2002, he signed with the Utah Jazz and played for them during the 2002–03 season as John Stockton’s backup.
2004 Houston Rockets
On January 15, 2004, Jackson signed Houston Rockets backup Steve Francis. Jackson played in only 42 games as a Rocket and experienced a significant drop in production, retiring at the end of the season.
Coaching career
On June 6, 2011, Jackson was hired as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He was the first head coach hired by new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. After inheriting a team that had made the playoffs only once in the previous 17 years, Jackson vowed to turn the Warriors into a good defensive team and a playoff contender but struggled to a 23–43 record in his first year during the firing.
In May 2023, after Joel Embiid was named the 2022–23 NBA MVP, there was public criticism, especially from Charles Barkley on TNT’s Inside the NBA. The criticism was directed at the one voter who didn’t include Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić in his top five.
Later in July 2023, Jackson was released from ESPN as part of a series of layoffs at the network.
Awards
- NBA All-Star Game (1989)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (1988)
- NBA All-Rookie First Team (1988)
- NBA Assistant Director (1997)
- Consensus Second Team All-American (1987)
- Eastern Defensive Player of the Year (1987)
- 2× First Team All-Big East (1986, 1987)
- Haggerty Award (1987)
- NCAA Season Contributor (1986)
