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Summary

After being drafted 31st overall in 2017, Jackson missed his entire rookie season due to foot injuries. In '18-'19, Jackson was also limited by injuries but still played in 58 games. As an athletic combo guard, Jackson's intrigue lies in his ability to get to the basket and finish up around the rim. His ideal role is as an athletic wing that can play fast and finish fastbreaks above the rim.

 

Along with questions above his durability, there are also questions about Jackson's role in the NBA. He has always been a score-first player, but Jackson has shot under 33% from three on about 2.5 attempts per game over the past two seasons. Those numbers will certainly have to improve for him to score at an efficient rate. In addition, his size will make it difficult for him to defend any position besides point guard, but he may not be the kind of playmaker necessary to play point guard on offense.

 

There are many non-playmaking point guards in today's game that play next to playmaking wings, but those players usually need to shoot well from outside to succeed.

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Cap Considerations

Jackson will be a restricted free agent with full Bird rights and a $2.0 million cap hold and Qualifying Offer. Having a low cap hold and full Bird rights could be beneficial for the Pelicans, as they can keep his can hold on the books, use cap space to sign free agents (if they operate under the cap), and then re-sign Jackson once they have used up all their cap space. If Jackson is brought back by the Pelicans on a multi-year contract, they should frontload his contract as much as possible, especially since they could do so without losing any cap space.

 

Teams other than the Pelicans will have multiple ways to sign Jackson, as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. However, Jackson being a restricted free agent will greatly lower his interest among teams, as they will worry that the only way to pry him away from New Orleans would be to significantly overpay him.

Potential Teams: Pelicans, Hawks, Hornets, 76ers, Suns

Predicted Contract: 2-year, $5 million with the Pelicans

Actual Contract: 1-year, $1.7 million ($250k guaranteed) with the Thunder

Jackson was only able to get a partially-guaranteed contract with the Thunder, and was waived prior to the start of the regular season. Jackson then signed a two-way contract with Detroit.

Last updated: 12/31/2020

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