Jordan Clarkson‘s impact on the New York Knicks‘ championship season may never be fully reflected in the box score.
As the defending NBA champions continue weighing whether to re-sign the veteran guard, rookie forward Mohamed Diawara has shared a behind-the-scenes story that helps explain why New York has remained eager to keep Clarkson despite its limited salary cap flexibility.
Appearing on the French basketball podcast First Team, Diawara identified Clarkson as one of the veteran leaders who helped rally the Knicks during the postseason.
When asked which players took charge inside the locker room, Diawara listed several of the team’s stars.
“Brunson, KAT, OG, Josh Hart… Jordan Clarkson,” he said.
Then he made one point unmistakably clear.
“Especially Jordan Clarkson,” Diawara emphasized.
Diawara Reveals Clarkson’s Unexpected Leadership
According to Diawara, Clarkson became one of the team’s most important voices when the Knicks needed one most.
“He has a vocal leadership role,” Diawara said. “He’s the oldest player on the team… 34 now. At one point, he gave a speech that really touched everyone.”
The comments reveal a side of Clarkson that few outside the organization have ever seen.
Throughout his 12-year NBA career, Clarkson has been known as one of basketball’s premier microwave scorers and a former Sixth Man of the Year.
Inside the Knicks’ locker room, however, he apparently became something much different.
Diawara’s comments surprised the podcast’s hosts, who admitted Clarkson wasn’t the player they envisioned delivering one of the defining speeches of a championship run.
“From the outside, we see Jordan Clarkson as a talented, flashy player,” one of the hosts said. “He’s not the guy you’d imagine standing up in front of a future championship team and saying, ‘Guys, let me talk,’ and having that speech make such an impact.”
The other host added that stories like Diawara’s reveal the unseen side of championship teams.
“If nobody tells you that happened, nobody could invent it.”
The Speech Came Before One of the Greatest Playoff Runs Ever
Diawara’s revelation provides new context to one of the most remarkable postseason turnarounds in NBA history.
The Knicks trailed the Atlanta Hawks 2-1 in the opening round and were in danger of losing control of the series when, according to Diawara, Clarkson delivered the speech that “really touched everyone.”
What happened afterward became historic.
New York never lost another playoff game until Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The Knicks closed out Atlanta by winning the final three games by 14, 29 and 51 points, turning a precarious first-round series into the launching point for a dominant championship run.
The momentum only grew.
New York swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, outscoring them by 89 points across four games.
The Knicks then swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 77-point cumulative margin, the largest point differential ever recorded in an Eastern Conference Finals sweep and the third-largest overall in conference finals history.
They finished by defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years.
The Knicks’ 13 consecutive playoff victories marked the second-longest single-postseason winning streak in NBA history, trailing only the 2017 Golden State Warriors‘ 16-game run.
Championships are never won because of one speech alone.
But Diawara’s account suggests Clarkson’s message became one of the emotional turning points that galvanized the locker room just as the Knicks stood on the brink of letting their first-round series slip away.
Why the Knicks Want Clarkson Back
Diawara’s comments arrive as Clarkson’s future remains one of New York’s biggest offseason questions.
Last week, SNY’s Ian Begley reported that the Knicks have “consistently signaled” they want Clarkson back despite operating under the NBA’s restrictive second salary apron.
The interest makes sense.
Following the addition of Andre Drummond after losing Mitchell Robinson to the Boston Celtics and Ariel Hukporti to the Philadelphia 76ers, New York has just two roster spots remaining to reach the NBA’s 14-player regular-season minimum while staying below the second apron. With one spot widely expected to go to another center, the Knicks have little flexibility as they work to keep their championship core intact.
Clarkson remains one of the few experienced veterans the Knicks can realistically retain on another veteran-minimum contract.
His regular-season numbers hardly tell the entire story.
The 34-year-old averaged career lows of 8.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 72 games while embracing a reduced role off the bench.
Yet Diawara’s account suggests Clarkson’s greatest contribution wasn’t measured by points.
It was measured by leadership.
If the Knicks ultimately choose to bring Clarkson back, it may have as much to do with what happened behind closed locker-room doors as what happened under Madison Square Garden’s bright lights.
For a team chasing back-to-back championships, those unseen moments may be just as valuable as the ones that make the highlight reels.
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