As the Los Angeles Lakers continue their search for a head coach, one name that keeps popping up is former Golden State Warriors coach and current ESPN NBA announcer Mark Jackson.
Many NBA experts are wondering why the Lakers haven’t called Jackson yet for their head coaching position but there may be a reason why.
According to NBA reporter Ethan Strauss, ESPN might have killed a story about Jackson for ESPN The Magazine back in 2016 which accuses Jackson of using religious tactics to control his team while he was with the Warriors, which may have included some homophobic slurs.
Strauss said ESPN killed the 2016 feature on Jackson because they felt like it was “too incendiary.”
On ESPN spiking Mark Jackson stories https://t.co/PfNTRY9Si4 pic.twitter.com/k7CA22oegX
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) May 10, 2022
Reports are that Jackson believes that the devil influenced some players and that he would even lay hands on them to cast the evil spirits out. The report also claims that Jackson called Jason Collins and team president Rick Welt, both of whom are gay, “penis grabbers” and said that both are “going to hell.”
Right now, the Sacramento Kings are the only NBA team publicly interested in Jackson.
Some NBA fans were not surprised to hear about this.
This certainly isn’t the first time I’ve heard about religious intolerance and homophobia. I’ve heard some reference to it each time his name has come up for a coaching job.
— Beer Brewer (@BeerBrewerMN) May 10, 2022
This guy compiled this a while ago, if true, I can see why Jackson couldn’t get a HC job since. https://t.co/9kkr0VCzcW
— 8 (@phatcatom) May 11, 2022
Some fans seem to be skeptical, however, over the timing of this article and information after all these years.
Kind of interesting that this gets brought up now when he is rumored to be close to finally getting another job. It didn’t come out in all the years prior so why would he still be employed by espn and why would other teams be considering him as a finalist for their job…
— Quincy Kelley (@kelleyqh) May 10, 2022
Mark Jackson can’t be a leader of men because he has a set idea of what a “man” is and not everyone fits that mold. His coaching days should be over.
— Christian Rivas (@RadRivas) May 11, 2022
Mark Jackson allegedly said gay people like Jason Collins and Rick Welts are going "to hell," in addition to calling them pretty graphic names.
Even if it was 8 years ago, is it still relevant today? https://t.co/WyQWwrlYZA
— Outsports (@outsports) May 11, 2022
It will be interesting to see if Mark Jackson or ESPN will comment on this story.
