re: Speculation that Zion could return to Duke to get out of playing in NOLA

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Other than Steve Francis I can't think of anyone that's really made this threat or acted upon it

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Jim Jackson refused to suit up for the Mavericks for the bulk of his rookie year b/c then owner Don Carter wanted him to sign a deal for less than what the 1st round 4th pick rookie scale was at the time.

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On how his contract dispute and subsequent holdout that kept him away from all but 28 games his rookie season impacted his start in Dallas:

“It impacted it, I think, perception-wise. You have to really think about this … I’ll give you a good story. I’m the fourth pick, and at the time, it was a market set. So you got Shaquille O’Neal goes No. 1, Alonzo Mourning as No 2, and Christian Laettner as No. 3. So the market is already set. So here’s my window—at six years, I signed a $21 million deal, so Christian was at like 25 or 24 [million], so my market was between 21 and 25 [million]. That’s where it was at. So when I got drafted, and they tried to offer me a deal that was about what the eighth pick got. So Donald Carter came to Columbus in the big plane, and picked me up, and we were flying over Columbus, and he says, ‘Well Jimmy, I don’t think we should pay a guard this much money, because Randy White and Doug Smith didn’t really work out’

“And I said, ‘Mr. Carter, no disrespect,’ I said, ‘But that’s not my fault that they didn’t work out.’ I said, ‘Now, I’m the fourth pick. I’m not going to ask for anything more, but I’m not going to take less than what my market value is,’ and I said, ‘So if you don’t want to pay me what the fourth pick is, I understand. Trade the pick, but if not, I’m not coming in for anything less than that,’ because, you’ve got to think about it. I’m going to be selfish here. If I don’t sign for them, then later on, it hurts me on in my renegotiations. And it also hurts the fourth pick next year behind me, because I went below market value, which would have been Jamaal. So there’s a lot of factors going on, and my agent, honestly, left it up to me. Mr. Carter came in and said, ‘We’ve got a million-dollar signing bonus for you.’ I’m 22 years old, and I said, ‘You know what, Mr. Carter, I’ve never had a million dollars, so I don’t know what I’m missing, but I know if I shortchange myself, it’s going to hurt me longer in my career, so I’m going to go back to school. I’ll be in Columbus. If you want to do a deal, fine. If not, that’s where I’ll be.’

“I went back, and I was going to start taking classes, but my agent told me to hold out just in case something happened. Now, also, I had a lawsuit against the Mavericks and against—which people really don’t know about—against the NBA. Because David Stern came in and said, ‘You’ve got to stop paying these rookies these long-term and high-priced deals.’ Well, that’s collusion, and you can’t do that. You can’t tell an owner what to do. We got wind of it, got the players’ association and said, ‘Here’s what’s happened.’ So finally, the Mavericks came in and signed me. You know, they’re hugging and kissing and ‘hey, we’re so glad,’ but it was because of the lawsuit. Because they would have to pay me double what a Cleveland offer would be, so they came in and paid me everything for 28 games, and that’s the reason why, so there’s always an underlying story to what it is. It wasn’t as simple as two sides coming together. The lawsuit kind of trumped everything.”

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