Golden State's Stephen Jackson Wants a Trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers

If only Jax had come out with this sooner instead of waiting for the end of August. You know, over a month after the Cavs already signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.On Friday night, Warriors guard Stephen Jackson, while in New York attending festivities for sneaker company Protege with Knicks forward Al Harrington, told our friends at Dime Magazine that he doesn't want to be playing for Don Nelson in Golden State next year. Jackson also gave an interesting answer when asked who he would want to play for instead: Dime: You made a big declaration earlier today by saying you wanted out of Golden State. When did you decide this?Stephen Jackson: It's not about a decision I made. It's just things are in the air right now. I really can't get too much into it right now, but I'm just looking to go somewhere where I can go and win a championship.Dime: Are the Warriors aware of this?SJ: Yeah they all know.Dime: Is there anywhere specifically you want to go?SJ: Either Cleveland, anywhere in Texas or out here with Al in New York. Jackson just turned 31 this past April and averaged 20.7 points on 41.4 shooting from the field and 33.8 percent from 3-point range. Keep in mind that those numbers may be a bit inflated compared to what Jackson can really offer because he played on an up-tempo team in Golden State who played small ball a lot and jacked up as many jumpers as possible.A true indicator of what Jackson can offer a halfcourt team like the Cavs can come from his 2005-06 season with Indiana, his last full campaign with the Pacers. In that, he played 81 games, averaged 16.4 points, and shot 41.1 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from downtown. He also averaged 1.3 steals, 2.8 assists, and a staggering 2.5 turnovers per game. That turnover number inflated to 3.9 this past season in Golden State.But the biggest indicator of why the idea of Jackson in a Cavs uniform is nothing more than a pipedream is his contract. Jackson is locked in through the 2012-13 season for an average of about $9 million per season. He will make about $10 million during the last year of that contract.Jackson would make perfect sense for the Cavaliers if Danny Ferry hadn't just signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon to bargain deals. Parker seems to be a more efficient scorer, and Moon seems to be just as athletic and offers the same length on the perimeter. Both are signed to partially guaranteed contracts through 2011, two years before Jackson's mammoth contract would be up.So if Jackson was actually paying attention to what the team in his preferred destination had done, he would have come out with this two months ago. Instead, adding Jackson at this point become redundant and cripples the team payroll further.Plus, who would you be willing to trade for Jackson? He's not worth the value of Zydrunas Ilgauskas' expiring contract, that's for sure. He's not worth young prospects like J.J. Hickson or Darnell Jackson. I wouldn't mind giving away Daniel Gibson for Jackson, since Boobie is also signed through 2013. But Gibson makes half of what Jackson makes, making a one-for-one deal impossible.Have fun at your block party with Protege, Jax, because you're a little late to this one.