Jalen Rose, a former NBA star who currently serves as an analyst for ESPN, took issue with Phil Jackson’s comments on the state of professional basketball and why he does not watch anymore.
Jackson said on “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin” podcast the game has become too political and was catering to a certain audience when the NBA plastered social justice slogans on the court and on the backs of jerseys during the bubble portion of the 2019-20 season in wake of the death of George Floyd.
Rose responded in a video Sunday.
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“You can’t make this up. Hall of Fame coach and 11-time champion Phil Jackson claims to have stopped supporting the NBA because it became ‘too political’ when it went into the bubble and was catering to certain audiences by putting slogans on the back of jerseys and Black Lives Matter on the floor,” Rose said.
“The same Phil Jackson that won championships with some of the greatest Black athletes in the history of the game – Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant. Made millions on their backs and off their sweat equity. You’re sitting there watching the game with your grandkids and y’all think its funny when justice passes the ball to equal opportunity. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.
“So, stop watching … forever.”
Jackson explained what turned him off to the game when the league went to the bubble format in Orlando, Florida.
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“They went into the lockout year, and they did something that was kind of wonky. They did a bubble down in Orlando, and all the teams that could qualify went down there, and stayed down there,” he said. “And they had things on their backs like ‘Justice.’ I made a little funny thing like, ‘Justice just went to the basket and Equal Opportunity just knocked him down.’ … So, my grandkids thought that was pretty funny to play up those names. So, I couldn’t watch that.”
Jackson continued, “They even had slogans on the floor, on the baseline. It was catering. It was trying to cater to an audience, or trying to bring a certain audience into play. And they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.
“We’ve had a lot of different type of players that have gone on to be … Bill Bradley was a senator, a number of baseball players have been representatives and senators … But their politics stay out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”
Rose was never on any of Jackson’s teams. He played for the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers at the height of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers dynasties.
Rose was named the Most Improved Player in 2000.
Fox News’ Joe Morgan contributed to this report.
