LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Golden State Warriors suspended Stephen Jackson for two exhibition games Saturday after the unhappy captain left the bench during an exhibition contest in Los Angeles.
The veteran swingman picked up five fouls and a technical in less than 10 minutes Friday night while playing against the Lakers at the Forum. After an apparently testy exchange with coach Don Nelson when Jackson’s frustration was evident on the bench, Jackson went to the locker room and never returned.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Jackson was sent to the locker room or went on his own. The Warriors only said Jackson was suspended for “conduct detrimental to the team.”
he would welcome a trade, and hasn’t backed down from the stance in recent interviews.
Jackson will miss Saturday night’s game against Phoenix in Indian Wells and Monday’s game at Staples Center against the Clippers. Jackson didn’t even make the trip to the high desert for the Warriors’ outdoor game against the Suns.
Before the game, Warriors coach Don Nelson refused to discuss the specifics of Jackson’s suspension, although he claimed he didn’t want to do it.
“In my 30-some-odd years in coaching, I never suspended a player before,” Nelson said. “Maybe I should have a couple of times, but I never have. I try to stay away from doing anything costing players a lot of money. I may have taken $5,000 or $10,000, but I’ve tried to stay away from that.”
Nelson might not have personally suspended a player before, but the Warriors banned Latrell Sprewell for one game during Nelson’s first stint with the club in January 1995. Golden State made the move after Sprewell skipped a practice for at least the second time that season, costing Sprewell nearly $10,000 in salary – and Nelson parted ways with the Warriors later that season.
Jackson agreed to a three-year, $28 million contract extension with the Warriors last November, but now he wants out – and the former combatant in the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl in the Auburn Hills stands is making it known in various vocal ways.
ran, who won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, is unhappy with Golden State’s decline since the club reached the second round of the 2007 playoffs, ending a 13-year playoff drought with a lineup featuring Baron Davis, Al Harrington and Jackson.
Although Golden State had a winning season in 2007-08, Davis and Harrington are both gone along with most of that roster, leaving the Warriors with a young lineup and seemingly little chance of returning to the playoffs soon.
Nelson and general manager Larry Riley, Nelson’s longtime assistant, have received heavy criticism in the Bay Area for their handling of the club over the past year while top executive Chris Mullin apparently was forced out by president Robert Rowell.
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