Reggie Jackson almost got beat up at Applebee's

Reggie Jackson was on top of the world.

Every shot he took went in, it seemed. The Jazz had no idea what was happening. For a moment, the veteran guard was the best player on his team. 15 months prior, he was out of the league.

It’s an awesome story of redemption. But for Reggie to redeem himself, he had to rid himself of his past. His past included a deadline trade from OKC to Detroit, numerous injuries that kept him sidelined for months at a time, and a constant struggle to win over Pistons fans.

By the end of Reggie’s tenure in Detroit, he had fallen completely out of favor with their fanbase. So much so, that a December 2019 meet & greet had the potential to put the Pistons point guard in harm’s way. The rumors are true — Reggie Jackson almost got beat up at Applebee’s.

Watch now:

Reggie’s up-and-down Pistons tenure

To tell the full story, we need to go back to July 20th, 2015. The Detroit Pistons re-signed Jackson to a five year, $80 million dollar contract. Reggie was the lead guard of Detroit’s future. He had shown enough in his short time to convince Stan Van Gundy (who was mistakenly the head coach and general manager) that he was worth keeping around. 

For one year, Reggie made good on his deal. He led a lineup of KCP, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris and Andre Drummond to the playoffs. He posted career-highs in points and assists. Jackson had many good moments for Detroit, even if their ceiling was getting swept by LeBron James and the Cavs.

Jackson would miss the first 21 games of the next season, receiving platelet-rich plasma injections to his knee and thumb. Immediately after returning, he thrust himself to the very top of Detroit’s shot attempts per game. Fans were upset that Reggie’s chuck-fest was taking possessions away from Tobias Harris, who was on the verge of stardom.

Soon came the trade rumors, then he was shut down for the remainder of the season, then he was nearly traded to the Pelicans, and then he suffered a grade-3 ankle sprain in December of 2017, sidelining him for 24 more games. Jackson didn’t get to touch a basketball for the entire 2018 offseason after another procedure on his ankle.

The infamous Applebee’s promotion

By the 2019-20 season, Jackson had racked up significant injuries and did not look like the same player that once carried Detroit to the playoffs. Both his body and the fans had completely given up on him.

But the Pistons marketing team didn’t know that. To give the fans an extra boost in cheering for their team, they set up their most-hated Piston for a meet and greet. This was not a good idea, for anybody. To make matters worse, this wasn’t a meet and greet at the arena, or at a sporting goods store, no. If Pistons fans wanted to meet Reggie Jackson, they would have to do it at Applebee’s.

Soon came the tweets, which are throughly detailed in the video above. To put it nicely: Pistons fans were pissed at Reggie, and threatened to cause him physical harm. No, Reggie Jackson didn’t get beat up at Applebee’s — but it’s a sign of the times, a sign that people can hide behind screens and say whatever they want. We’re all guilty of it, but the look on his face in the pictures from the event is from a guy who was not where he wanted to be.

A story of redemption

The tough times that Reggie had in Detroit would soon be over. A few months later, Reggie entered a contract buyout with the Pistons. Soon, he would receive a call from an old best friend: Paul George, who invited Reggie to come play with him in LA. You know the rest of the story: Reggie would go on to become “Mr. June,” seemingly bailing the Clippers out with haymaker after haymaker in a trip to the Western Conference Finals. He made Rudy Gobert seem undeserving of his Defensive Player of the Year status, and kept the Clippers afloat. It was Jackson, not Kawhi Leonard or Paul George, who provided the biggest spark for their team.

Jackson wasn’t treated well by Detroit fans at the end of his tenure. So it’s another story of redemption, deservedly so for a talented player whose body failed him. Reggie was out of the league. Now the Clippers have re-upped his deal, as he’ll be making $22 million over the next two seasons.

The look on Reggie’s face after his team’s season ending to loss to Phoenix wasn’t grief — it was relief. Reggie worked so hard to get his body right. He’s found a home in LA — a long ways away from signing menus at Applebee’s.