Getty Christian Wood guards Jordan Clarkson
The Los Angeles Lakers could pursue a $51 million star in the offseason.
An Eastern Conference executive told Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports that he would not be surprised to see the Lakers go after Jordan Clarkson in the summer.
“There are teams that will look at him and say, ‘That is exactly what we need,’” one Eastern Conference executive told Heavy Sports. “Reliable scorer, smart player, bench or starter, good in the locker room, good presence. The Lakers really wanted to see if they could shake him free there, but Utah would rather get him to a new deal and if they are going to move him, do it later on when they have a little more leverage. You don’t have much leverage trading a free agent. I would not be surprised to see the Lakers make another run.”
The Lakers were interested in trading for Clarkson at the February trade deadline. However, the Utah Jazz held onto him. Clarkson has a player option worth $14.3 million for next season. He becomes a restricted free agent this summer if he declines it.
“But a lot of teams are gonna say, ‘He’s 30 and he is a high-volume scorer and doesn’t play good defense.’ That is the problem for Clarkson,” the exec told Deveney. “Because most of the teams who are going to say that about him are the ones with cap space, the ones that could actually give him a good contract.”
Jordan Clarkson on Kobe Bryant: ‘He Always Told Me to Shoot It’
Clarkson began his career with the Lakers in 2014. He played two seasons with the late great Kobe Bryant and learned a lot from the NBA legend.
“He always told me to shoot it,” Clarkson told Deveney. “In our first game, he told me not to be scared, to go out and shoot. I shot it like 10 times in the first few minutes. Biggest thing was seeing him put in work in practice. It was just him being great, on the floor and then in practice and as a teammate, bringing everybody together, getting on us. That was, you know, us getting cussed out in the locker room by him, too, but that was OK. It was just bringing the energy out of us always. He was just a great leader in that matter.”
Clarkson has career averages of 15.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists with the Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Jazz. He won the 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year Award with Utah after averaging 18.4 points.
Jordan Clarkson: ‘I Love Utah’
It’s unknown if Clarkson will pick up his player option or decline it. The shooting guard signed a four-year, $51 million deal with the Jazz in November 2020.
“I love Utah,” Clarkson told Deveney. “But I mean, it’s a business. I understand it. It is nothing for us to pack up and enjoy another experience anywhere, but the biggest thing for us is, you know, the love and support that I felt here. Utah, it has been amazing and that probably is the biggest thing that would have hurt just leaving because all the relationships and stuff that we built.”