Jim Jackson admits he hated playing against Muggsy Bogues: “People don’t understand how strong Muggsy was” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Standing 6’6″ and weighing 220 pounds, Jim Jackson had no problem going toe-to-toe with the best players during his era. A high-scoring forward during his time with the Dallas Mavericks, he averaged 19.6 points in his five seasons there, highlighted by a career-high 25.7 points per game during his third season in the league.
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However, there was one player who Jackson pointed out as his most challenging defender: Muggsy Bogues.
Standing at just 5’3″, Bogues was one of the most intriguing players in NBA history. Despite being the shortest player in NBA history, he played 14 seasons in the league and spent most of them getting underestimated due to his size. But Jackson knew better.
Tasked with bringing the ball up
The former Ohio State standout recalled playing point guard during the second half of the season after the Mavericks traded Derek Harper to the New York Knicks in January 1994. This placed him in Muggsy’s crosshairs.
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“We play Charlotte, and you know Muggsy’s 5’2″ with some insoles in, okay?” Jackson told Dan Patrick on his show. “And he’ll pick you up full court. And he gets up underneath you and annoying as hell. I’m like, ‘Man, just get — here’s the ball. I’mma get it back over half court.'”
While Bogues was unusually short for an NBA player, he more than made up for it with his heads-up play. Whether it was with his court generalship, especially during his time with the Charlotte Hornets, which he helped lead to three playoff appearances or his ball-hawking defense, the former Wake Forest ace was solid proof that height is but a number in the NBA.
Muggsy knew what worked for him
Jim added that Muggsy had no compunctions about his height and was able to use it to his advantage. He wasn’t tall, so he made sure he had a strong base, which made him difficult to push around on the court. Even though he was small, Bogues had a big heart and never backed down from a challenge.
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“People don’t understand how strong Muggsy Bogues was at the time — even though he didn’t have the height, but his advantage was the further you were away from the basket, his speed, his quickness, and his size wasn’t a liability,” Jim recalled.
To this day, Jackson relayed seeing Bogues in person gets a rise out of him, eliciting bad memories of trying to get the ball past halfcourt with the little guy shadowing him.
“That annoyed the heck out of me when I played against Charlotte and had to bring it up against a smaller, quicker and a defensive-minded point guard like, uh, like Muggsy Bogues. Yeah, I still hate to see him coming. I’m like, ‘Muggsy, man, get out of here, man,'” Jackson said with a laugh.
In a sport dominated by giants like Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan and now Victor Wembanyama, Muggsy stood out as an anomaly and remains an inspiration to those who are told they are too small to play the game.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on May 29, 2025, where it first appeared.