Jackson: I refused to admit for Pop that Ginobili, Green were better than me

Stephen Jackson was a prideful man during his 14-year run in the Association, including his later years when he was relegated to a reserve role after being a starter for a majority of his career.

While with the San Antonio Spurs in 2013, Jackson felt as though he should have been receiving a good chunk of minutes at shooting guard compared to some of his teammates, but head coach Gregg Popovich was having no part of it.

During an appearance on ESPN's "The Dan LeBatard Show" to discuss Phil Jackson's "posse" comments about LeBron James, Jackson described an incident where Popovich asked him to acknowledge that two other players on the roster were better than him.

Well, that was never going to happen.

"In San Antonio when I was asked to say other players were better than me to to help their confidence so they can play better. That was the most disrespectful thing that I've ever heard from any coach in my life," Jackson said, as transcribed by Spurs Zone's Jeff Garcia. "But at the same time, I was dealing with the smartest coach I ever met in my life.

"I want you to basically admit that these guys are better than you and we need them going forward to the playoffs. And I would not do that. That's when I got waived right before the playoffs in San Antonio. He (Popovich) asked me to do it and I told him I could not do it. I walked out."

The two players Popovich was referring to were Manu Ginobili and Danny Green, who were both slotted ahead of Jackson on the depth chart.

"Ginobili was playing like trash at the time, turning the ball all over the place," Jackson added. "I just felt like he (Popovich) should've played me."

The Spurs did alright for themselves sans Jackson, advancing all the way to the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, albeit in a losing effort. Jackson, on the other hand, played nine more games in the league with the Los Angeles Clippers the following season before announcing his retirement in 2015.