The last time we checked in on Killer 3s — the BIG3 squad led by player/coach Charles Oakley — a minor war of words broke out between its head coach and one of its co-captains. Oakley and Stephen Jackson got into it because Jackson wasn’t as locked into the game as Oakley would have liked. It’s something that happens in basketball a lot, but unlike most leagues, the player in this instance had zero issue giving it right back to the coach.
Let’s fast forward a few weeks and check on how the Oakley/Jackson relationship is doing, right out of this week’s BIG3 slate in Dallas.
Things got heated between @DaTrillStak5 and @CharlesOakley34 in Week 6 👀 pic.twitter.com/hjAqfNg3et
— FS1 (@FS1) July 31, 2017
Ah, so it looks like the pair are still jawing with one another. Very good.
This time, Jackson was mad with getting taken out of the game against Ball Hogs. Oakley, being a savvy veteran, decided to ask him why he was talking so loud, which led to Jackson saying that Oakley took him out of the game because he was fouled. After Oakley responded by telling him that the move was actually made because Jackson kept arguing with the officials, Captain Jack dropped an all-time great line on his coach.
“Don’t take me out,” Jackson demanded. “We ain’t gonna win.”
The best part is this is only the first 20 or so seconds of the video! The two kept at it for nearly another minute and a half over the course of the clip, which is edited to include different parts of the game and Jackson’s postgame interview. Highlights include Jackson saying he was going to check himself in, which led to Oakley saying, “Well go through me then. I wanna see this.”
In the end, it turns out all was well between the two, as Jackson said “He’s probably the only person besides Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson that I respect and I listen to.” At the end of the day, everyone in the NBA is family, after all. Also, someone, I don’t care who, sign Stephen Jackson to an NBA deal and mic him up for every game. He’s the best.
