OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State coach Don Nelson said the Warriors are still open to trading Stephen Jackson a day after the disgruntled star's agent made disparaging comments about the coach.
"We're trying to accommodate him," Nelson said. "If we can get a good deal, we'll do it. I said that over a month, month and a half ago."
In an interview late Sunday with ESPN Jackson's agent, Mark Stevens, blamed Nelson for breaking up the Warriors' playoff team from 2007 and questioned his ability to coach.
"I'm disgusted with the quality of Nelson's coaching and with the lack of trust his players have in him," Stevens said. "Nelson is the winningest coach in NBA history to never have coached in the NBA Finals, let alone won a championship. Yet he keeps getting jobs despite being 69 years old."
Stevens reiterated his comments Monday on ESPNRadio.
Nelson declined to discuss Stevens' comments when asked about them before Monday night's home game against Minnesota.
"I don't have any comment, you guys know what that's all about," Nelson said.
Jackson has been upset with the Warriors' decline since he helped the franchise end a 13-year postseason drought with a trip to the second round of the playoffs in 2007. He agreed to a three-year, $28 million contract extension last November but publicly requested a trade this past offseason.
Jackson relinquished his role as team captain after being suspended for two preseason games when he and Nelson got into a heated exchange during an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Lakers in October. The suspension cost Jackson approximately $139,000, and since then the tension between he and the Warriors has grown.
The Warriors lost four of their first five games this season, including Sunday's 120-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings. Stevens told ESPN he watched the game against Sacramento and is determined to get Jackson traded.
"I just want him out of there now," Stevens said. "It doesn't matter where. At this stage, something has to be done. It can't get any worse.
"No one trusts Don Nelson. When Nelson was in Milwaukee, Wayne Embry trusted him and brought him in, and he betrayed Embry. In Dallas, Mark Cuban took damn good care of him and his son and he betrayed Cuban. In Golden State, Chris Mullin hired him and trusted him and Nelson backstabbed him by reaching out to president Robert Rowell and blaming Mullin for everything that was going wrong with the Warriors."
GSW_Fan 
