Stephen Jackson Responds to Kwame Brown: 'Be Mad at Yo Self...Don't Make It Personal'
May 18, 2021
Former NBA star Stephen Jackson responded to Kwame Brown after the 2001 No. 1 overall pick targeted Jackson, Matt Barnes and Gilbert Arenas in a recent Instagram video (warning: contains sexist and racial language).
Jackson said Tuesday that Brown "should be mad at yourself" for an NBA career that was largely disappointing and admonished the former Washington Wizards forward for making things personal (warning: contains profanity).
The situation started after Arenas was a guest on Barnes and Jackson's All The Smoke podcast. Brown, who was briefly teammates with Arenas on the Wizards, came up during the discussion, and the three-time All-Star point guard said Michael Jordan was partially to blame for how poorly Brown adjusted to the NBA (via the New York Post's Jenna Lemoncelli):
"Imagine being an 18-year-old kid getting drafted No. 1 by your idol and your idol is Michael Jordan. ... We know Michael Jordan’s personality. Imagine that personality going towards a 18-year-old kid, just bullying him. ... When you’re making [Brown] look little to his peers, he loses his confidence. So when I get there, he doesn’t have confidence. So, it’s trying to build this man-child up. ... I call him a show pony, he’s a show horse."
As Brown offered a rebuttal, Barnes echoed Jackson's comments and thought his frustration was misplaced.
Brown spent four seasons in Washington before a move to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2005. Altogether, he spent 12 years in the NBA with seven different teams. According to Basketball Reference, he also pulled down nearly $64 million in career earnings during his time in the league.
Still, the discourse around the 39-year-old is almost exclusively about where he ranks among the NBA's biggest draft busts, so it's not entirely surprising that would eventually wear on him.