Mark Jackson is leaving one broadcasting gig — and it may not be long before he drops the other.
Jackson, currently the lead analyst for NBA games on ABC and ESPN, announced on-air Wednesday night that he would not return next season as game analyst for New Jersey Nets games on YES. This comes on the heels of increasing speculation that Jackson is a prime candidate for the soon-to-be vacant New York Knicks coaching job.
Jackson’s announcement, made during the final Nets broadcast of the season, would seem to only fuel speculation that he is on his way out of the booth altogether. However, Jackson maintains his exit from YES has more to do with travel than a potential job coaching the moribund Knicks.
Newsday reports Jackson told YES officials he was simply “tired of the time apart from his family, which is based in Los Angeles.” In a separate statement, Jackson says he wants “to make ESPN and ABC the focus of my broadcasting career.”
However, with Jackson on the “short list of potential coaches” for the Knicks, he may not have much longer to focus on that career.
