Stephen Jackson has been called a lot of things during his time on the spotlight, everything from a “bad boy” to “delusional”, but he insists he was a top leader both on and off the court. The 17-year NBA career player recently ripped into the league for not supporting the black community.
According to the former Warriors athlete, the NBA should’ve reached out to him at the height of the Black Lives Matter campaign and even called himself “the face of the biggest civil rights movement ever.”
Let’s get some context here. Six years ago, the former athlete decided to join up with Ice Cube and his BIG3 project to try and add more star power to this new competition. Jackson even wore the Miller 3s’ jersey alongside other former stars like Charles Oakley and Chauncey Billups.
Stephen Jackson calls out the NBA and says he’s the face of the biggest civil rights movement ever pic.twitter.com/EuPFK8mVL7
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 1, 2023
Social media has once again erupted against him, calling Jackson all sorts of things for his unrealistic and sometimes deranged remarks.
The latest tirade came precisely after he endorsed the BIG3 and complained publicly for the NBA’s lack of support.
“This is the only black-owned professional league. We need to come out and support it. I’ve been his [Ice Cube] since year one. He’ll tell you, I just wanna see him win. There’s no reason for the NBA not to support this league. It’s all ex-NBA players,” he shared.
“I’m the face of the biggest civil rights movement ever – with the George Floyd [incident],” he kept at it. “I’m an NBA champion [and] played in the NBA. The NBA didn’t reach out to me for the ‘Black Lives Matter Movement’ for social justice or equality.”
The 17-year NBA career player went all the way to call himself the ‘Tupac of the NBA’ four years ago
Ever since Colin Cowherd invited Stephen Jackson to his TV show and called him a ‘tough guy’ to describe his time as a basketball player, the former athlete has been out to convince everyone that those adjective are not precise because it makes him seem like a thug.
During that show of “The Herd” he immediately expressed his dislike for the thought of him being this brute player who solved his NBA career being tough.
“I don’t like that,” Jackson said. “Because people twist that tough guy stuff with a gangster thug. I just played basketball. I appreciated the game every night.”
Nevertheless, “Jack” did admit he was some sort of bad boy, and even took pride in this. Sounds contradicting, doesn’t it?
“I’m the Tupac of the NBA. I’m an outlaw. I’ll take that. No All-Star game but respected by my peers so I take that any day,” he said during Herd’s show.
Jackson finally retired after the 2013/14 campaign with the LA Clippers, playing only in nine matches that season. The biggest accomplishment of his career was conquering the NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.
