For many years, after Jerry West had long departed, Phil Jackson worked alongside current Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.
Their relationship status wasn’t nearly as headline making as Jackson’s with members of the Buss family, but the New York Knicks president decided to take a shot at his former basketball collegue on Friday.
It’s likely Phil Jackson’s verbal shot at the Lakers GM was friendly in nature, but when discussing why he (Phil Jackson) didn’t get any love in the NBA’s “Executive of the Year” voting, Jackson took this swipe at Kupchak:
Phil Jackson miffed about no Executive of the Year love…even “Mitch Kupchak got a vote.” http://t.co/DJEdQ4IvFn pic.twitter.com/pd1c7vN5At
— ESPN (@espn) June 19, 2015
Ouch. Burn baby burn like disco inferno.
It was actually a pretty solid troll job on the part of Phil Jackson, who has pretty much become the guy living under the bridge over the past decade. Regardless, when Jackson takes a strike, he usually hits pretty well.
I’m venturing to guess Kupchak won’t respond with a war of words, likely because he knows he’ll lose and because he doesn’t want to have any negative attention on the Lakers as they prepare for the NBA Draft.
Still, that’s a pretty solid shot on the part of Phil Jackson.