This may have slipped your mind, but before Stephen Jackson was a ball-hogging, coach-killing clubhouse cancer on a handful of NBA teams, he was a hardworking youngster that helped the 2003 San Antonio Spurs win a championship. Now, interestingly enough, there’s speculation that the Spurs may be interested in rekindling something with Captain Jack:

Source: RJefferson for SJackson being discussed.

—
Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) March 15, 2012

Jackson was just traded earlier this week — from the Milwaukee Bucks, along with Andrew Bogut, to the Golden State Warriors for Monta Ellis, Kwame Brown and Ekpe Udoh. But there’s been increased speculation yesterday and today that Golden State isn’t Jackson’s final destination, and now the Spurs are apparently interested in making a deal.

It’s not surprising the Spurs are trying to unload Jefferson, who turns 32 this spring and has seen his production dip. He’s averaging just 9.2 points per game this season, his first time in single digits in a decade.

The salary cap math works perfectly — Jackson is making $9,256,500 this season, and Jefferson, $9,282,000.

The clock is ticking, so expect this deal to happen within minutes. It makes sense for both teams.

UPDATE: Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that this deal is now done. Jackson and Jefferson are indeed switching teams.

The San Antonio Spurs have elected to use the amnesty clause on their contract with Richard Jefferson, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Jefferson has three-years and $30 million remaining on his contract, which will now be eliminated from the San Antonio Spurs’ salary cap. Under the new collective bargaining agreement agreed upon by the owners and players earlier this month, teams are allowed to waive one player from their team and remove that contract from their salary cap. Team’s will now soon be allowed to place bids on Jefferson during the amnesty waiver process.

Wojnarowski reports that the Spurs will now attempt to find a small forward which will allow them to use their mid-level exception of $5 million per year.

Jefferson, 30, averaged 11 points and 1.3 assists per game for the Spurs in 81 games last season.