Stephen Jackson is in Miami right now. But he's not there for Game 1 of the 2013 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and his former team the San Antonio Spurs. He's not there because the Spurs decided to part ways with Jax back in April just one week before the start of the 2013 NBA Playoffs. No official reason was given by the team or Jackson at the time. But he's talking about it now.
In an interview that Jackson did with the San Antonio Express-News yesterday, Jackson revealed that he spent most of the 2012-13 NBA season at odds with Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. He also revealed that Pop wanted him to admit that he was less talented at this point in his career than Danny Green and Manu Ginobili, which Jackson says he refused to do. But he didn't blame the Spurs for cutting him prior to the playoffs.
"I wouldn't want me on the team, either," he said.
But the most surprising part of the interview is that Jackson says he doesn't have any regrets about the way that he left the Spurs. Despite the fact that he could be playing in the NBA Finals right now and fighting for an NBA championship, he's content and doesn't regret a thing.
"Nope," he said. "Got my money."
That's probably not the best thing for Jackson to say, especially if he wants to get another chance with another NBA team next season. But we can't fault him for being honest. We've been told over and over and over again that "it's just business" when pro athletes get cut from teams. So can we really blame Jackson for looking at it that way, too? We're sure that, deep down, he's got a regret or two about his time in San Antonio. But we're also sure that all the zeroes in his bank account help him sleep at night despite what happened with the Spurs this year.
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[via San Antonio Express-News]
