From MSG memories to coaching Stephen Curry, Jackson shares how belief shaped his career in a holiday edition of Boardroom Talks with Rich Kleiman, presented by State Farm®.
Christmas at Madison Square Garden has always meant something different to Mark Jackson. The lights are brighter, the memories heavier, and the stakes unmistakably higher. Sitting down with Rich Kleiman for a holiday edition of Boardroom Talks presented by State Farm, Jackson reflected on a career that has touched nearly every corner of basketball — player, coach, commentator — and the throughline that connects it all: belief.
Jackson still remembers his rookie season with the New York Knicks, when Christmas Day arrived sooner than expected. “Playing Isaiah Thomas and obviously Joe Dumars and that great Pistons team was special,” he said of that first holiday matchup. For a kid from New York who once stood in the tunnel watching Thomas warm up, the moment carried weight beyond the box score. “Here I am, a year later or two years later, in Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day playing against this guy that I absolutely idolized.”
Those moments at the Garden never lost their emotional pull, even when Jackson returned wearing different uniforms. “You always feel like the New York City in you comes out,” he said. “You convince yourself that this is my house.” That sense of ownership never faded, nor did his belief that the Knicks team he helped lead in the early ’90s had unfinished business. “I believe that if that team sticks together, we win the championship moving forward,” Jackson said plainly.
That confidence — instilled early by Rick Pitino — became a defining trait. Jackson credits his first NBA coach for shaping not just his career, but his worldview. “The dude had me believing I was better than Magic Johnson,” he said. “I know I’m not better than Magic Johnson, but if you put me on the lie detector test, I’d have passed it.” Years later, Jackson carried that same approach into coaching, most famously in Golden State. “When I said Steph Curry and Klay Thompson [were] the greatest shooting backcourt of all time, I believed that,” he said. “And what it did is birthed something in them that they ran with.”
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While championships define legacies in the public eye, Jackson views impact differently. “When I’m coaching, I’m impacting lives,” he said. “Not just look at Steph Curry, the four-time champ. No, look at Steph Curry, the man, the husband, the father.” That perspective fuels his continued desire to return to the sidelines. “I want to coach,” Jackson said. “I love the idea of leading and impacting and changing and winning.”
Even now, watching the league’s evolution brings admiration that stems from his deep-rooted love of the game. From Nikola Jokić to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Victor Wembanyama, Jackson sees a global game fulfilled. “The talent level is far superior today,” he said. “It is absolutely fun to watch.”
This Christmas, Jackson will watch from his couch — no whistle, no headset, no pregame shootaround — but the reverence remains. “Everybody’s watching,” he said of Christmas Day in the NBA. Some things, after all, never change.
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