Mark Jackson joins ESPN despite reportedly being Knicks' coaching candidate

By foxsports
Published

NEW YORK -- Former Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson has agreed to a multiyear deal to rejoin ESPN's lead NBA announcing team.

Jackson is scheduled to work the Eastern Conference finals and NBA Finals with Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy. They called the last of their five straight NBA Finals together in 2011. ESPN is making the announcement Saturday.

Jackson then went straight from TV to coaching and led the Warriors to the playoffs the last two seasons. But he was fired earlier this month after Golden State went 51-31 and lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. The Warriors have hired Steve Kerr, another analyst without coaching experience.

Jackson played 17 seasons in the NBA and is fourth on the career list with 10,334 assists.

This decision is somewhat surprising considering Jackson was added to the Knicks' tentative list of head-coaching candidates, the New York Post reported Friday.