National Basketball Association

Phil Jackson says he won't coach again

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:34 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Phil Jackson says he won't coach again after his last experience with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"No I'm not gonna coach again," Jackson said Wednesday night on FOX Sports Live. "I've done my coaching and I think I can put that aside."

Jackson won 11 championships in 20 seasons as a coach, including 11 seasons with the Lakers. He parted ways with the team after the 2010-11 season, only to be approached again by LA after it fired Mike Brown early in the 2012-13 campaign. But despite interest from Jackson, Mike D'Antoni got the job.

"I don't wanna be taken through the process again, it was too difficult, maybe too upsetting in some ways for my fiancee," Jackson said, referring to Lakers president Jeanie Buss.

Pressed about the chance he might coach again, Jackson said: "I don't think that you have to coach, I think your influence can be beyond coaching."

Jackson also discussed his former star Kobe Bryant, saying he expects the Lakers star to come back strong and wouldn't advise him to sit out the rest of the season.

He also weighed in on who would win a game of 1-on-1 between Bryant and Michael Jordan, capping it with a story of how a young Bryant once told Jordan "I could kick your ass 1-on-1" — and Jordan's surprising response.

Watch the complete and uncut interview below: