Stephen Jackson to San Antonio: How Move Impacts Western Conference Playoff Race

The San Antonio Spurs have traded small forward Richard Jefferson to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for swingman Stephen Jackson. In doing so, the Spurs have changed the Western Conference playoff race in a major way.

In Jackson, the Spurs have gotten a reliable perimeter scorer who can help shoulder the load and take over if Manu Ginobili should get re-injured as he did last season. This greatly helps the Spurs, making them more dynamic on offense and giving them more insurance on their stars.

As far as improving their own playoff seed, it is probably unlikely. The Oklahoma City Thunder have shown no signs of letting up and will probably stay on pace to have the best record in the Western Conference.

However, it does give them a much better shot to hold their current seeding at No. 2 against teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, both of whom made significant trades to try and get better.

Jackson immediately will improve the Spurs offense and flourish in it if he gets significant minutes under head coach Gregg Popovich.

Popovich is very familiar with Jackson, as the talented scorer spent two seasons with the Spurs in the early 2000s, including their championship season in 2003. He averaged 11.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, shooting 44 percent from the field during that season.

Jackson became a free agent after that season, and the Spurs were unable to pay him the type of money he brought on the open market. It was after that that he began to build his reputation as an impressive scorer.

This season has not been a good one for Jackson. For Milwaukee, Jackson appeared in just 26 games, averaging 10.5 points per game primarily off the bench. He shot just 36 percent from the field and under 28 percent from three-point range. He has, however, shot the highest free throw percentage of his career so far this season.

Jackson was traded from Milwaukee to Golden State earlier this week. Golden State was elated over acquiring Bucks’ center Andrew Bogut in the trade but not so thrilled about receiving their former player, Jackson, as part of it. Therefore, the Warriors made the decision to deal Jackson to San Antonio for Jefferson.

It will be interesting to see how Jackson fits into the Spurs rotation starting out. One would assume that he would take over Richard Jefferson’s spot at the small forward position in the starting lineup, but Jackson is out right now with a hamstring injury. He may be worked into the rotation more gradually due to his injury, starting out on the bench and working his way toward a starting spot.

When and if Jackson does get back to full strength and into starter’s minutes, he should have a positive effect on the Spurs offense. Jackson is a high octane scorer who would be a healthy dose of adrenaline to any offense.

He will keep the Spurs afloat should they be hit by any injury bugs at their No. 2 seed in the West.