Mama, there goes that man again—the Milwaukee Bucks are interviewing former Warriors coach and current ESPN commentator Mark Jackson to be their new head coach to replace the recently fired Mike Budenholzer. A former NBA point guard, Jackson coached the Warriors from 2011-2014, going 121-109 and making the playoffs in his last two seasons, a massive achievement for a team that made the playoffs just once in the last 17 years at the time. Since Jackson was fired in 2014, he's been a member of ESPN's main NBA broadcasting team alongside Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy, another former coach. While Jackson has been linked to previous openings over the last few off-seasons, his interview with the Bucks represents the most significant step he's taken towards returning to the sideline as a coach.
Although Jackson's record with the Warriors is impressive, it pales in comparison to what the Warriors have done since firing him; the Warriors' dynasty began as soon as Kerr replaced Jackson. In Kerr's first year with the team, he won 66 games and a championship with the roster that he inherited from Jackson, scrapping Jackson's workmanlike offense for a revolutionary motion attack that unlocked Steph Curry as one of the greatest players of all time.
Beyond the nagging sentiment that Jackson underperformed with the Warriors, he carries a reputation as a combative, difficult coach who struggled to get along with players and staff members alike.
“Part of it was that he couldn't get along with anybody else in the organization,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob said in 2014 about his decision to move on from Jackson. “And look, he did a great job, and I'll always compliment him in many respects, but you can't have 200 people in the organization not like you.”
With the Bucks, Mark Jackson would ironically find himself in the opposite of his situation in Golden State. Whereas he built the Warriors into a good team but couldn't get them over the hump, in Milwaukee, he'd be tasked with helping the team move beyond their postseason bugaboos and annual underperformance.
Under Budenholzer, the Bucks won a title in 2021 and have been the NBA's best regular season team over the last five years, but have a history of ignominious playoff exits—most gallingly, the Bucks lost to the Miami Heat in five games this season, becoming just the second #1 seed to lose a seven-game series in the first round.
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