Reggie Jackson’s Days Are Numbered With Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are gearing up for a huge playoff run after a horrendous start to the season thanks to injuries to the team’s two star players in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Now that both players are healthy and are playing at MVP levels, the Thunder can concentrate on what moves to make in order to surround the both of them with the right talent that can win a championship right now.
Both players can leave Oklahoma City in the not so distant future, so it is crucial that the team looks to win multiple titles right now in order to keep its core of stars together for as long as possible.
The Thunder just made a trade to secure a guard that they are hoping becomes the closest thing to James Harden that the team has had since they traded him in order to stay under the tax line. Dion Waiters may still have potential, but he may not be that same kind of offensive star that Harden was.
Regardless, the trade for Waiters means that the writing is on the wall for one Reggie Jackson, who had claimed the sixth man role for Oklahoma City.
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Jackson has been a clutch player for the team in the past. Before he was given more minutes, Jackson played within himself a lot more often, playing more team basketball and creating plays for others as opposed to being selfish and looking for his own shot way too often.
This season, Jackson earned himself more minutes, and even took over as the starting point guard for quite some time because of the injury to Westbrook at the beginning of the season.
Jackson was not horrible in his starting role, but he wasn’t what the team expected, shooting low percentages a lot of times and turning the ball over at inopportune times. Jackson was a little too selfish, leaving his teammates to sometimes freeze him out of getting the ball in order to teach him a little bit of a lesson.
Can Jackson play some offense and score with any of the back-up guards in the league? Absolutely. Is he ready for a bigger role where he is relying on himself more and more? Not quite yet, as he still needs to polish his decision making and shot selection.
Jackson is still a young player who still has the time to iron out all of these issues, so in terms of his long-term potential, no one should be questioning the fact that he could eventually become a star in the league one day.
With that being said, the Thunder are trying to contend now and don’t really have the time to sit and wait for that to happen.
Jackson has continued to be too selfish even now that Durant and Westbrook have returned, and it has been evident in the actions and reactions of other players, with Durant even showing his frustration on a bad Jackson shot during Oklahoma City’s game Friday night against the Utah Jazz.
Durant was so upset with some of the shots Jackson was taking that you could see him throwing his towel down in disgust, like Jackson doesn’t listen to anyone when he goes up for a shot.
When a star player shows his discontent and is as frustrated as he was, usually his opinion is heard more loud and clear than anyone else’s. To add to the writing on the wall, coach Scott Brooks went to Waiters down the stretch later in the game as opposed to giving Jackson his regular crunch time minutes. If that isn’t a sign of things to come, then I don’t know what is.
It is clear that the Thunder have become unhappy with Jackson’s current development. That’s not to say that Jackson isn’t a good player or cannot become one, but he doesn’t fit with the Thunder’s current plans right now.
As for getting rid of him, it is unclear what the Thunder could get for Jackson at this point in time, whether future assets or veteran help would be on the table for Oklahoma City.
We should find out soon enough though, as it looks like Jackson may not be with the Thunder for much longer. Waiters, it’s your turn to step up.