Speaking yesterday at the Albury stadium named in her honour, the three-time WNBA and four-time WNBL Most Valuable Player admitted yet another round of surgery to her right knee had her seriously questioning her playing future.

The four-time Olympian has been ruled out for the rest of the Canberra Capitals’ WNBL campaign after an MRI last week showed a hole in the cartilage in the back of her knee.

With surgery scheduled for next week and an extended recovery period to follow, Jackson said a fifth Olympics would be the ultimate way to finish what has been a glittering career.

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think ‘I can’t do this anymore’ — it’s hard,” Jackson said.

“And I’ve had a great career, there’s things that I don’t even believe I’ve done, looking back on everything.

“But ultimately I am contracted to a couple of teams and I do want to make it to Rio, I think that would be a great opportunity for me to say goodbye.

“Even if I’m not playing very much, it would still be one of those great moments.

“But in saying that, my body hasn’t let me play more than five games in the last year and I don’t know where I’m going to be after next season with the WNBL.

“So my priority is to get back for the next WNBL season and be fit and healthy and strong for that.

“The WNBA? I don’t know, it really depends on what they find in my knee.”

The Caps won five of the six games Jackson played in this season as she averaged 13 points and seven boards to help keep Canberra in play-off contention.

But Jackson’s knee blew up after a road double that saw the 196-centimetre pivot require pain-killing injections to get through the second game.

With Jackson to undergo a sixth surgery in 12 months, the Australian Opals skipper said retirement was something she seriously considered — and still does.

“It’s been frustrating to have that word — retirement — bandied around,” Jackson said.

“But it’s something I think about every single day.

“I’m getting older, very much injury-prone at the moment but it’s one of those things where you just have to suck it up and keep going.

“At the moment, I can’t see past today, I don’t know where I’m going to be come Rio next year.

“In a perfect world it would be (ideal) but in saying that too, I’m only 34, if I wanted to play on beyond that, I’m not going to rule it out either.

“But I have to focus on getting this right and not letting it get the best of my career.”

Jackson also expressed her dismay at the announcement the ABC has opted to not show the WNBL’s semi-finals live on television, choosing instead to broadcast the women’s Australian Open golf tournament and stream the basketball online.

“It’s hugely disappointing,” Jackson said.

“I think the coverage of the WNBL going under is a huge blow to basketball and women’s sport.

“That’s very disappointing considering they’re cutting all women’s sport as of next year.

“We were hoping that there would be enough people protesting or getting behind the sport to try to push the ABC to televise it and hopefully we can do that.”