Mark Jackson will no longer broadcast Knicks games on MSG Network due to concerns about his presence on the team aircraft.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, the New York Knicks will no longer have Mark Jackson call their games on MSG Network because the team objected to him being on the team’s chartered plane.
Marchand continues, “MSG Network intended to have Jackson substitute for Clyde Frazier on occasion this season, but sources say that the Knicks management, led by team president Leon Rose, decided to block the arrangement due in part to an old feud with Jackson and an assistant coach.”
When Jackson fired Darren Erman, the current assistant for the Knicks, in 2014, the two were still with the Golden State Warriors. Erman served as Jackson’s assistant coach and served as the team’s head coach.
Erman allegedly got fired by Jackson for secretly filming him and the players.
Jackson was unexpectedly let go by ESPN during the summer. For nearly fifteen years, ESPN’s NBA coverage featured Jackson on a regular basis. Jackson and fellow broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy were replaced by the network with longtime ESPN basketball analyst Doris Burke and former Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers.
As Knicks icon Walt “Clyde” Frazier reduced his travel, Jackson was supposed to reunite with longtime partner Mike Breen to cover every now and then.
Jackson spent a total of six and a half seasons playing for the team during two different stints. The Knicks saw a renaissance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, partly thanks to the No. 18 overall selection in the 1987 NBA Draft. In 1989, he was named an All-Star and won Rookie of the Year.