Jackson appeared in 53 games for the Pistons last year and posted career highs in points (10.6) and minutes (22.0). He shot 40.2 percent from the field (9.1 attempts per game) and 82.7 percent from the free-throw line (2.0 attempts) but a career-worst 30.8 percent from deep (career-high 5.3 attempts per game). Jackson scored 25-plus points four times during the 2021-22 campaign, including a season-high 27-point performance against the Warriors on Nov. 19. The 2017 second-round pick has played at least 40 games in all four years in the NBA. Still, he finds himself a free agent heading into September. Detroit opted to move on from the veteran point guard after drafting Jaden Ivey with the No. 5 overall pick and trading for Alec Burks this offseason, which leaves the Pistons' backcourt crowded with Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes and Cory Joseph returning. Nevertheless, Jackson is a proven point guard in the NBA and figures to garner at least a training camp tryout before the season begins in October.
The start of Jackson's 2020-21 season was not desirable, as he was cut by the Thunder days before the season started. However, he was picked up on a two-way contract by the Pistons. After rarely seeing the court through the first half of Detroit's season, Jackson found himself in the rotation. In the Duke product's final 31 appearances, Jackson averaged 12.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 22.1 minutes per game while shooting a strong 41.6 percent from beyond the arc. In the offseason, Jackson resigned with Detroit to a two-year deal and will look to build upon his best year yet as a pro. However, the 23-year-old guard faces steep competition for playing time as Detroit's rotation contains the likes of Killian Hayes, Cade Cunningham, Saben Lee, Hamidou Diallo and Cory Joseph. Entering his fourth season in the league, it is hard to imagine Jackson seeing the court enough to become a legitimate fantasy option.
After significant foot issues wiped out his entire 2017-18 rookie campaign, Jackson was able to get on the floor for 61 games last season. The talented 21-year-old finished with 8.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists across 19.2 minutes over 61 games. However, that's not to say the injury bug hasn't continued to plague him. Jackson missed the last five games of the season with a concussion. He was then unable to build on a spectacular Las Vegas Summer League debut in July (30 points, three rebounds and two blocks over 32 minutes) due to a quadriceps injury. While Jackson should be fully healed by training camp, he'll initially face an uphill battle for playing time during the coming season. The Pelicans traded for Lonzo Ball and then invested the 17th overall pick in this past June's draft on Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who was impressive in summer league play. Jackson thus slots in as the third option at point guard to start camp, but his position on the depth chart has a chance to improve. That's primarily due to Ball's spotty injury history -- one that already includes a total of 65 missed games over his first two NBA seasons. Whether Jackson can approximate the playing time he averaged last season does remain very much in question. However, the relatively brief glimpses he's provided over his one college season at Duke and his Pelicans tenure do lend credence to the notion he could prove serviceable in the areas of scoring and assists in deep formats during the coming campaign.
A second-round pick in 2017, Jackson missed his entire rookie season and underwent three separate foot surgeries. He entered the summer full healthy but suffered a sprained foot in the Pelicans' Las Vegas Summer League opener in July. If there's a silver lining, it's that the sprain was to his left foot, as opposed to the surgically repaired right foot, and the hope is that he's able to make a full recovery in time for opening night. Jackson looked good during his short time on the floor in Vegas, scoring 13 points in the first half before going down with injury. The Pelicans are far from deep in their backcourt, so if Jackson is able to stay healthy, there's a good chance he could find himself a spot in the back-end of the guard rotation. The 20-year-old was an efficient scorer at Duke two seasons ago, averaging 10.9 points per game on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent from three. It remains to be seen whether or not that efficiency will translate to the next level, but Jackson's long-term potential is relatively high, as far as second-round picks go. In the immediate future, Jackson can be ignored in most leagues, but he'll be a name to watch if Elfrid Payton and/or Jrue Holiday were to suffer an injury.
Jackson, who was selected with the 31st pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, comes to the Pelicans as a fairly advanced scorer. The 6-foot-3 guard was stuck in a complimentary during his lone collegiate season at Duke, but still finished with an average of 10.9 points, while shooting 54 percent from the field and more impressively, 39.2 percent from the three-point line. He didn't add much elsewhere, though he also had 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists across 24.9 minutes. It was that scoring ability that ultimately resulted in Jackson being selected with the first pick in the second round of the draft. He's got better than average athleticism and can finish through contact, which is a nice bonus to his three-point shooting. However, the fact that he's not much of a passer brings some questions regarding whether or not he can play the point. If he shifts over to shooting guard, Jackson will be a bit undersized for the position, so there's certainly some questions about where he'll ultimately fit in. With guys like Rajon Rondo, Jrue Holiday, Ian Clark, E'Twaun Moore and Jordan Clark all ahead of him on the backcourt depth chart, Jackson's 2017-18 campaign will largely be spent in a developmental capacity.