14-year NBA veteran Stephen Jackson was a lifelong friend of George Floyd, the black man killed in a video that shows a Minneapolis police officer putting a knee on his neck for eight minutes. Jackson has been outspoken on social media about his relationship with the man he called “Twin.” The two grew up together playing basketball in Texas.
On Thursday, Jackson was a guest on NBC’s Today Show to talk about Floyd and the comments he has made about his friend’s death. The interview was emotional, with Jackson fighting back tears through much of what he said.
“We always hung together. Every time I went to Houston, it was my first stop, to stop and pick him up and see where he was,” Jackson told NBC’s Craig Melvin. “What’s killing me the most is, being a professional athlete, so many people abuse your friendship and abuse your kindness. He was one of those guys that genuinely supported me. He didn’t call unless he genuinely needed it.”
Jackson said that he was asleep on the couch with his daughter when he started receiving messages about the video of Floyd’s death. He says that he “hasn’t been the same since” seeing the video.
Melvin asked Jackson what his first thought was when he saw Floyd cry out for his mother after saying multiple times that he could not breathe.
“It hurt, man. Jackson said through tears. “It hurt because I knew it was a cry for help.”
The interview ended with Melvin asking Jackson what he thought his friend would say about the protests outside of Minneapolis Police Headquarters that have turned violent.
“Honestly, [George Floyd] would be happy people are fighting for them, but that’s not the way he would want them to do it,” Jackson responded. “He’d want the people responsible for his death penalized. He wasn’t the type to want to hurt innocent people.”
After retiring from the NBA in 2014, Jackson joined ESPN as an NBA analyst. He now co-hosts Showtime’s basketball podcast All the Smoke with former teammate and fellow NBA veteran Matt Barnes.
