Mark Jackson will not be calling games on MSG Networks after the Knicks objected to him being on the team’s chartered jet, The Post has learned.
MSG Networks planned on having Jackson occasionally fill in for Clyde Frazier this season, but Knicks management, led by team president Leon Rose, put a kibosh on the arrangement in part due to an old quarrel with Jackson and a current Knicks assistant coach, according to sources.
“We weren’t able to work something out this season,” an MSG Networks spokesman told The Post.
The Knicks declined to comment.
Jackson did not return messages seeking comment.
In 2014, Darren Erman, a current Knicks assistant but then with the Golden State Warriors, was fired by Jackson, who was then the Warriors’ head coach.
ESPN reported shortly after that Erman had taped Jackson and the players unbeknownst to them.
Jackson later called Erman’s actions “inexcusable.”
Jackson was fired by Golden State later that year and went from the sideline to the booth before being released by ESPN this summer.
MSG pursued Jackson to work when Frazier was off, which would have teamed him with Mike Breen, his longtime ESPN play-by-play partner.
Rose had the final say on whether or not to allow Jackson on the team charter, in its hotel, or on the team bus, according to sources.
All other TV and radio broadcasters are permitted to travel and room with the team, though there is generally little intermingling.
Rose does not speak to the media.
Jackson was expected to call all five games on the Knicks’ current trip.
He was not expected to make extra money as he was being paid an offset off the money that ESPN still owed him.
Jackson and his agent went through all the appropriate channels to make a deal with MSG Networks possible, because ESPN had to sign off on the agreement.
On Wednesday night, Jackson took to Instagram saying, among other things, that the “lies have got to stop” after years of people questioning his integrity.
He was irked by the perception he was fired, though, The Post did not report that.
“More than a week ago, I turned the job down due to the fact that it wasn’t the ideal conditions and it wasn’t the ideal time for me,” Jackson said.
He said he bleeds blue and orange and didn’t close the door on possibly discussing a broadcasting position again. (He also did give The Post credit for attempting to reach him four times.)
This summer, Jackson, 58, was let go by ESPN during the network’s layoffs after being a mainstay with Breen and Jeff Van Gundy on its top NBA team.
MSG looked into reuniting Jackson and Van Gundy with Breen.
A Van Gundy deal never came to fruition and he is now consulting for the Celtics.
Jackson and MSG were able to agree to terms on what would have been a limited schedule before the Knicks stepped in.
Jackson, who starred as a point guard with the Knicks in the 1980s, has been mentioned as a potential coach for the team in the past.
He interviewed for the job in 2018, but the Knicks instead chose David Fizdale.
The setup between teams’ announcers and the coaches and players generally maintains that there is not much interaction.
In most cases, broadcasters, coaches, and players are separated on team buses and charter jets.
The announcers, in most cases, stay at the team hotel.
Jackson could have chosen to fly commercial, stay in a different hotel, and find a way to the arena, but it is arduous; especially with back-to-backs and without really being paid extra for his effort.
MSG Networks never officially announced the Jackson deal, but reports in The Post and Daily News indicated a deal was on the brink.
With Jackson out, Wally Szczerbiak is filling in for Frazier as MSG’s game analyst.
— Additional reporting by Stefan Bondy
