After his buyout with the Detroit Pistons is complete, Reggie Jackson will join the LA Clippers. Can he offer a title contender more in a lesser role?
With 15 official roster spots on each of the league’s 30 teams, the NBA is made up of 450 of the world’s best basketball players. That kind of collection of talent features the most elite players from around the globe, but even among their ranks, there are massive gaps in that talent. Even the 0.1 percent of earth’s hoopers can’t all be superstars, starters or even role players at this level.
There have been hundreds of examples of players struggling to find their most suitable NBA role after being told their entire lives that they’re the best of the best, and Reggie Jackson is yet another prominent, recent example.
After starting for all but six of his 299 games with the Detroit Pistons, Jackson will be bought out of the remainder of his expiring contract. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he’ll be joining one of the league’s presumed title contenders, the LA Clippers, once he clears waivers.
This midseason change of scenery represents a stark contrast for Jackson in a variety of ways. When he wanted out from the Oklahoma City Thunder back in 2015, he was a super sixth man filling the James Harden, Kevin Martin role. Injuries to Kevin Durant kept OKC out of the playoffs that year, but that team was still a contender when healthy. Jackson wanted more; he wanted the starting role he felt he deserved.
Russell Westbrook wasn’t going anywhere, which left the Thunder one option: trading a disgruntled player somewhere he might get his chance to blossom as a starting NBA point guard.
Jackson got exactly that when OKC shipped him to Detroit as part of a three-team deal at the trade deadline. The immediate results were promising; in 27 games as a starter to close the season, he averaged 17.6 points, 9.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds a night.
The following season was even more encouraging. Jackson put up a career-high 18.8 points, 6.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game in 79 appearances, shooting 35.3 percent from 3-point range and helping lead the Pistons to the playoffs at the 8-seed. They were swept in the first round by a superior Cleveland Cavaliers team that wound up winning it all, but the entire series was surprisingly competitive. The future looked bright for that Pistons team.
Unfortunately, it never materialized for Detroit, and Jackson’s deterioration — both of his body and his game — played a significant role. On a five-year, $80 million contract that seemed like a gamble at the time and became more infamous with each passing year, Jackson missed 110 of a possible 303 games over the next three and a half seasons — and that somehow includes one season in 2018-19 when he actually played all 82 games.
The Pistons made it to the playoffs just one other time during that stretch, getting swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round last year. While poor injury luck was a factor in Detroit never reaching its ceiling during his tenure, Jackson’s flaws as a facilitator and lead guard made it easy to chalk up his designation as an NBA starting point guard as questionable at best.
Jackson’s contract was mercifully coming off the books this summer anyway, but now that the Pistons have washed their hands of yet another core piece of the last few years, he’ll be getting back to the basics in a significantly reduced role.
Honestly, the Clippers don’t need Reggie Jackson. They’ve got plenty of lead ball-handlers/scorers in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Lou Williams. The guard spots are packed between Patrick Beverley, Lou Will and Landry Shamet. Marcus Morris and Montrezl Harrell demand plenty of touches too, which means there are more mouths to feed than food to go around in L.A.
Jackson is far from worthless or washed though. Even this season, in which he’s only played 14 games due to injury, he’s shot 37.8 percent from 3 on a career-high 5.9 attempts per game. He can give the second unit a secondary facilitator on a team chock-full of them, and in a pinch come playoff time, the Clippers can rest easy knowing they’ve got a guy who’s used to starting that can capably fill a reduced role.
At best, Jackson will seamlessly slip back into a more suitable sixth man role like he did in OKC, only this time, on an even deeper team with title prospects. If he can work the pick-and-roll, distribute the rock, keep the ball moving, score on occasion and hit open shots that stem from all the attention his teammates attract from opposing defenses, he’ll be fine.
At worst, he’ll be an 11th or 12th man who’s only taken out of his break-in-case-of-emergency-glass in the event of injuries or blowouts. Even if he never plays, keeping him away from the Los Angeles Lakers and forcing them to continue giving Rajon Rondo minutes was a win for the Clippers.
Five years ago, Reggie Jackson forced his way out of a winning situation because he believed he was ready for the spotlight. Now, after his body, his contract and his game repeatedly failed to prove him right, and after he even flirted with retirement, he’s finally being exiled from a dreary situation in Motown. It’s time to get back to basics in a reduced role with another contender, and hopefully this time around, less will be more once again.