Warriors Deny Stephen Jackson Is Going to Training Camp with Team

In one of the biggest surprises of the offseason, Stephen Jackson took another step toward reviving his NBA career Sunday.

Jackson told ESPN's Rachel Nichols (via Joe Rodgers of Sporting News) he'll be attending the Golden State Warriors' training camp in an attempt to earn a spot on the team's roster.

CSN Bay Area's Henry Wofford spoke to a source with the Warriors, however, who refuted Jackson's claim and said he hasn't been extended an invitation to training camp.

Nichols later clarified that it was "way too early for official training camp invites."

Should Jackson make Golden State's opening-night squad, it'll be his second run with the franchise—excluding his brief stay in 2012 before being traded to the San Antonio Spurs.

Some of Jackson's best years in the NBA were spent in the Bay Area. Over the span of four years, he played in 179 games for the Warriors and averaged 19.4 points a night. He was also one of the key players on the 2006-07 Warriors team that upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

The 38-year-old hasn't played in the NBA since 2013-14, when he appeared in nine games for the Los Angeles Clippers. He was once a versatile swingman, but his NBA career declined significantly following his final season with the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010-11.

During stints with the Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Spurs over the next three years, he averaged 7.4 points per game on 36.9 percent shooting, including a 27.1 percent clip from three-point range. Jackson formally retired in July 2015.

Given both his drop in production and time away from the league, Jackson will likely provide marginal returns on the court, though he may have a chance to play a meaningful role for Golden State next season. If the Warriors were concerned strictly with adding depth to the bench, they likely wouldn't have invited Jackson in the first place.

Writing for Grantland in 2012, Jonathan Abrams argued Jackson constantly strove to be a good teammate—almost to a fault:

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Jackson has been miscast in the starring role a couple of times in his nomadic career. He's more comfortable and productive in a supporting role. In this title, he is who he wants to be and has been since high school. He is quick to tell people that he is a wonderful addition to any roster and fast to add that Duncan calls him the ultimate teammate. Others echo these statements.

But being low-maintenance is one of the primary qualities of most complementary players. They require little pushing, motivation, or coddling compared with most stars. This is where Jackson's career and reputation are at odds. He tries to be there for teammates in ways that directly lead to confrontation and trouble. In Jackson's case, the question becomes, is there such a thing as being a cruddy consummate teammate? There are deep-rooted reasons for why Jackson is who he is.

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Jackson earned a 30-game suspension for his role in the Malice at the Palace in 2004 after he came to the defense of Indiana Pacers teammate Ron Artest. Abrams also documented the October 2006 incident in which Jackson fired a weapon outside an Indianapolis strip club. Jackson claimed he was trying to defuse a situation involving then-teammate Jamaal Tinsley and another patron.

Jackson talked to Abrams about his desire to help those close to him: "At that time, that could have hurt me being loyal. But a lot of times, I don't think about it because that's the person that I am. In some crazy sort of way, if I died helping a teammate or a friend or someone that I love, I think I could live with it. My family probably couldn't, but I think I could."

That passion and selflessness could help Jackson become an important voice inside the Warriors' locker room should he return to the NBA. If he can help strengthen Golden State's chemistry on and off the court, he would surely provide a return on the team's investment.