SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 2 -- The oldest team in the NBA got a little older Wednesday as the Utah Jazz signed 15-year veteran Mark Jackson to one-year contract. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Jackson spent last season with New York Knicks but was traded to the Denver Nuggets on draft day. He worked out a deal with the Nuggets that allowed him to become a free agent and landed a job as John Stockton's backup.
The 37-year-old Jackson joins Stockton and Karl Malone, who will both return to the Jazz for at least one more season. Stockton will turn 41 in March and Malone is 39.
Jackson started in all 82 games with New York last season and averaged 8.4 points and 7.4 assists per game.
Utah will be the seventh team for Jackson, who is fourth all time with 9,887 assists. He is 113 shy of joining Stockton and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson as the only players with 10,000 career assists.
Jackson has averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 assists in 1,172 career games. He has missed only 26 games in 15 seasons and has appeared in 121 career postseason games with the Knicks, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.
Jackson was drafted by the Knicks in the first round of the 1987 NBA draft. He set a rookie record with 868 assists and was named Rookie of the Year.
The Jazz were 44-38 last season and finished in eighth place in the Western Conference. They made their 18th consecutive playoff appearance but were eliminated by top-seeded Sacramento in the first round. |end| Content: 15008000 15008001
