This offseason has seen the Philadelphia 76ers dismiss their former head coach, Doc Rivers, and lose assistant coaches Sam Cassell and Dan Burke. While the Sixers have gained a new head coach in Nick Nurse, they’ve yet to build out his staff. That is until they made their first official hire Sunday afternoon.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, former Stockton Kings’ head coach Bobby Jackson will join Nurse’s staff for the 2023-2024 NBA season.
Jackson is remembered for his 12-year NBA career, which included being named the 2002-2003 Sixth Man of the Year. Since his playing days, Jackson has served as a scout and player development coach with the Sacramento Kings before joining the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2013 in a similar capacity. He would again join Sacramento as a talent scout before becoming a player development coach in 2018 under current Sixers’ assistant coach Dave Joerger and then later Luke Walton.
In 2021, Jackson would be named the new head coach of Sacramento’s G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. During his time in Stockton, Jackson would coach Louis King, who played for the Sixers on a two-way contract last season. With Jackson’s arrival, perhaps the chances of King returning to Philadelphia have increased.
It also remains to be seen if this has any implication on the status of the Sixers’ current assistant coach Dave Joerger. A one-year connection between Joerger and Jackson in Sacramento does not mean anything concrete, of course, but perhaps the familiarity and a potentially increased role for Joerger with both Cassell and Burke leaving could be the catalyst to keep the well-regarded coach in Philadelphia.
