Stephen A. Smith: Steve Kerr ‘Piggybacked’ Off Golden State Team Mark Jackson Built

Stephen Douglas | Jun 9, 2025

Mark Jackson and Stephen Curry during the 2014 NBA Playoffs. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks are looking for a new head coach, having fired Tom Thibodeau after he took the franchise back to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century. With Thibodeau gone, there's no telling who the Knicks will go after, but ESPN's Stephen A. Smith has one suggestion and he's got a really good pitch to go with it.

On Monday's episode of First Take, Smith threw Mark Jackson's name into the ring. He's not the first person to mention Jackson, but he might be the first to suggest he was the one who built the Golden State Warriors' dynasty and then said Steve Kerry had "piggybacked off of that."

"I'm gonna always mention the name Mark Jackson...this man was responsible for building Golden State before Steve Kerr was brought in and took over and piggybacked off of that." - Stephen A. Smith on Knicks coaching search pic.twitter.com/XMo6306z77

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2025

"I'm gonna always mention the name Mark Jackson because he's been away from the game for a decade as a coach," said Smith. "This man was responsible for building Golden State before Steve Kerr was brought in and took over and piggybacked off of that and ascended to four championships, no doubt."

The Warriors went 23-43 in Jackson's first season as Stephen Curry—who was drafted before Jackson arrived—missed two-thirds of the season. The next year with a healthy Curry and David Lee playing at an All-NBA third team-level the team went 47-35 and made the playoffs for the second time since 1994. Then in the '13-'14 season they went 51-31 and lost in the first round.

That's when Jackson got fired, which allowed Kerr to "piggyback" his way to three of the next four NBA championships and make five straight Finals appearances.

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