Jim Jackson Again Denies the Infamous Toni Braxton Rumor

Jim Jackson was a guest on Colin Cowherd’s show Thursday. He said there are plenty of fights we don’t hear about in the NBA, and that he got into it with Quinn Buckner, the former league veteran who was his coach for two seasons in Dallas. Buckner was a first-time head coach (and this was the only job he’d ever have), the Mavs started off 1-23, and apparently there was a tough loss to the Clippers, there was a heated exchange in the locker room, and Jackson and Buckner had to be separated.

After that, Colin Cowherd asked about the infamous Toni Braxton rumor, which Page 2’s Jeff Merron described way back:

"The story goes that singer Toni Braxton stopped by the Mavs’ hotel in Atlanta to pick up her date for the evening — Kidd — but left with Jackson instead. And then milked the ensuing publicity for all it was worth, telling a reporter who asked about the situation, “I’ve at least heard of them [but] as far as dating, whether it’s true or not, I can never kiss and tell.” Kidd demanded a trade — either him or Jackson — and the Mavs dealt him to the Suns. Jackson exited just a few months later . But both denied Braxton caused the rift. “I don’t know how many times we have to say it,” Jackson said. “He says it, I say it, it’s never happened. It’s ridiculous.” “I’ve never met her,” Kidd said long after. “But those type of things hurt a young team. We didn’t know how to handle it.”"

“I sit there and laugh about it,” Jackson told Cowherd. “I wish it would’ve happened. If it would’ve happened, it would’ve had more meat to it. I could’ve patted myself on the chest and said, ‘It really did happen.’ But it didn’t. … To this day I still get asked about it.”