Mark Jackson is an American basketball coach and a former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born on April 1, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, where he was considered one of nation’s elite point guards while playing under coach Patrick Quigley.

Jackson became a famous streetballer in New York and a college hoop star at St. John’s University, where he played with Olympian and NBA All-Star Chris Mullin for a year.

He began his professional career as the 18th pick during the 1987 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He teamed with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, which resulted in a prime playoff team during the late 80s and early 90s. Under coach Rick Pitino, he averaged 13.6 points and 10.6 assists per game in his rookie season which earned him the 1988 Rookie of the Year Award. He was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1992 before the Knicks became a regular playoff contender.

During his NBA career, he played twice for the Knicks (1987-1992 and 2000-2002), the Los Angeles Clippers (1992-1994), twice for the Indiana Pacers (1994-1996 and 1997-2000), Denver Nuggets (1996-1997), Toronto Raptors (2000 and 2001), Utah Jazz (2002-2003) and Houston Rockets (2003-2004).

When Jackson retired as a player, he worked as an analyst, mostly with Marv Albert, for the New Jersey Nets on YES Network. He also worked as an analyst along with Mike Breen and former Jeff Van Grundy on ABC. He was later hired as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors on June 6, 2011.