With the injury and subsequent trading of Joe Ingles to the Portland Trail Blazers, Jordan Clarkson’s role on the Utah Jazz has arguably never been more important. Wherever he’s played in the National Basketball Association, he has provided a scoring spark in a reserve role.
While he was doing just that with the Jazz even before Ingles went down, Clarkson will need to be a little bit more efficient, and perhaps take on more of a playmaking role. Utah figures to get notable performances from Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in the postseason, but it will be players like Clarkson, Mike Conley, and Royce O’Neale who are the X-factors in whether the team makes a deep postseason run.
Jordan Clarkson – Childhood
Jordan Taylor Clarkson was born to parents Mike Clarkson and Annette Tullao Davis in Tampa, Florida on June 7, 1992. While Tampa is where Clarkson’s story begins, he ended up moving to San Antonio, Texas when he was one year old. His mother and father served in the United States Air Force, and San Antonio is a major hub for the armed forces, so the move made sense given his parents’ occupations. Mike Clarkson would end up remarrying during Jordan’s childhood, and Janie Clarkson would end up being Jordan’s stepmom.
As a kid, Jordan Tyler Clarkson became a fan of his hometown team, the San Antonio Spurs. There is one photo that has made the rounds of him as a child next to San Antonio legends Tim Duncan and David Robinson. He would also spend a lot of time watching Manu Ginobili, which is interesting considering Clarkson’s sparkplug role as a scorer off the bench in the NBA. There were few players in league history who were more accomplished at that task than Ginobili.
Jordan Clarkson – High School
While San Antonio was enthralled by the level of play the Spurs were bringing to the table in the NBA postseason, one of their own was making a name for himself in his own basketball career. Jordan Clarkson would attend Karen Wagner High School, just over a 10-minute drive from the AT&T Center, where the Spurs called home.
He would end up starting for the team in the final three years of his high school career. He got off to a decent start as a sophomore, averaging 10 points per game. However, he truly blossomed as the scorer fans would come to know and love as a junior.
Clarkson exploded onto the scene, averaging 20 points per game, to go along with six rebounds per game and four assists per game. During his senior year, some of the numbers in the main statistical categories came down, but he led his team to the brink of a state championship. They ended up losing in the semi-finals, but for his efforts, Clarkson was selected as the San Antonio High School Player Of The Year.
Jordan Clarkson – College
Jordan Clarkson played college basketball—at least to start—at the University of Tulsa. He could’ve stayed in-state, and received looks from the likes of TCU, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, but decided to take his talents slightly north to Oklahoma.
It did not take long for Clarkson to establish himself as a premier Conference USA freshman. Despite only starting nine games, he averaged 11.5 points per contest in the 27 games he appeared in. For his production, he was named to the Conference USA all-freshman team in 2010-2011, which signaled a bright start to his college basketball career.
Clarkson cranked it up a notch for the Golden Hurricanes in his sophomore year, by increasing his scoring to over 16 points per game. He was a much more proficient shooter from three-point range in that campaign, connecting at a 37% clip from deep. He also started all 31 games for Tulsa as the focal point of their offense.
Jordan Clarkson – Transferring To Missouri
However, his sports reference page indicates that he was inactive for the 2012-2013 season, as a transfer to the University of Missouri. There was a little bit of controversy between Tulsa and the Clarkson family, however, before Jordan ended up with the Tigers. After informing Tulsa of his intent to transfer, the school only allowed three of the schools on Clarkson’s list to contact him. Mike Clarkson, Jordan’s father, found this distasteful, considering that none of the schools his son wanted to go to were directly competing with Tulsa in their conference.
At the end of the day, the younger Clarkson selected Missouri as the place he would continue his basketball career. He mentioned his relationship with star guard Phil Pressey as the main reason why he wanted to play for the Tigers, in addition to the presence of head coach Frank Haith.
After sitting out a season, Clarkson didn’t miss a beat in his return for the 2013-2014 campaign. His junior season saw him average 17.5 points per game, and over three rebounds and three assists per night. He was named second-team All-SEC in his first year in a more competitive conference.
Although the Tigers did not make the NCAA Tournament, they still finished with an impressive 23-12 record overall. He did have another year of eligibility with Missouri considering the year he sat out as a transfer, but he had already been in the college basketball vortex for a full four years. With that in mind, Clarkson entered his name into the 2014 NBA Draft.
Jordan Clarkson – Los Angeles Lakers
Heading into the 2014 Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in unfamiliar territory. They were coming off of their first losing season since the 2004-2005 campaign, just after Shaquille O’Neal was traded to Miami. In the twilight years of Kobe Bryant’s career, Los Angeles was tasked with trying to build a competitive team, while retooling for the future.
With the seventh overall pick in the 2014 Draft, the franchise took Julius Randle out of the University of Kentucky. In a draft-night trade with the Washington Wizards, the team acquired Jordan Clarkson, who was taken in the second round with the 46th overall selection.
On paper, pairing the aging Bryant with a rookie who needed to have the ball in his hands would not seem like a very good idea. However, the future Hall of Famer would only end up playing 35 games that season, while Clarkson suited up in 59 contests. That gave the Missouri product a chance to find his footing offensively in the NBA. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie team that season, with the likes of Andrew Wiggins and Elfrid Payton.
While Los Angeles did not come close to sniffing the postseason during Clarkson’s remaining two seasons with the Lakers, he provided some exciting instant offense. For example, in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in March 2017, Jordan Clarkson exploded for 35 points, with eight made three-pointers. Additionally, in the 2016 Rising Stars Challenge, he poured in 25 points for the US squad against team World in Toronto.
Jordan Clarkson – Cleveland Cavaliers
Clarkson’s production was consistent with what he had shown so far in his Los Angeles career early on in the 2017-2018 season. However, the Lakers did not view him as a piece of their future and decided to move him to a team that was all-in for trying to win a title that year. The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance from the Lakers in exchange for Channing Frye, Isaiah Thomas, and a first-round pick.
On a team with LeBron James, Kevin Love, and a myriad of other veterans, there was no way that Clarkson would have the same freedom he enjoyed to start his career with Los Angeles. However, the team was incredibly successful, while utilizing Clarkson as part of the regular season rotation at around 22 minutes per game.
However, once the playoffs rolled around, head coach Tyronn Lue shortened his rotation, and Clarkson was hard-pressed to find minutes. He saw a respectable amount of floor time in the first round of the playoffs but was used sparingly in the last three rounds of the postseason. Cleveland ended up getting swept in the NBA Finals by the Golden State Warriors, and Clarkson ended up not getting off the bench in the last two contests.
It was a great opportunity for the former Missouri star to finally get a taste of postseason action after not having made it that far with Los Angeles. However, the rest of his time with the Cavaliers mirrored the Lakers’ experience from a team success perspective. James left the Cavaliers for the Lakers, and the team struggled mightily. But Clarkson was free to be one of the orchestrators of the offense and averaged over 16 points per game in the 2018-2019 season.
As the Cavaliers looked to develop Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the 2019-2020 season, it ended up being déjà vu all over again for Clarkson. His statistics were impressive on a struggling team, but the franchise he was on wanted to go in a different direction. Right before Christmas in 2019, Cleveland shipped Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum and a couple of draft picks.
Jordan Clarkson – Utah Jazz
Clarkson’s skill set was never in doubt at his prior two NBA stops, but he has really solidified himself as a key contributor to a perennially successful team with the Utah Jazz. As part of a rotation that included Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson helps the Jazz bring a unique three-headed monster to the opposition. He is not quite the playmaker that the other two guards are, but he is often on the floor in crunch time to help close out games. As an added bonus, he’s provided head coach Quin Snyder with a couple of the better rebounding seasons in his career, which helps the team get out in transition.
Clarkson’s career year came in the 2020-2021 season when he averaged the most points he ever had in the NBA, with 18.4. That’s especially remarkable when one considers that he only started one game in that regular-season campaign. He had a 40-point game in February 2021 against the Philadelphia 76ers, and a 41-point night in May 2021 against the Golden State Warriors. Clarkson was honored with the NBA’s Sixth Man Of The Year award that season for being the best reserve player in the league.
He’s been an extremely durable player for his career, and that has continued this year in Utah. Jordan Clarkson will appear in nearly every regular-season game and is averaging just over 16 points per game.
Jordan Clarkson – National Team Career
Although Jordan Clarkson was born in the United States, he has some Filipino ancestry on his mother’s side. He expressed an interest in playing for the Philippines national team and was eventually allowed to do so by the NBA for the 2018 Asian Games. His successful career has helped the game become more popular in the country. He has even tried to convince Houston Rockets to guard Jalen Green to consider national team play in the future; Green is also of Filipino descent.
Jordan Clarkson – NBA Future
Jordan Clarkson is under contract with the Utah Jazz for at least one more season after the current NBA campaign. He has a player option for 2023-2024 at just over $14 million he can exercise if he so chooses. It is hard to predict where the Jazz will be as a franchise at that time if they continue to only advance so far in the Western Conference playoffs. He certainly seems to have found a home with the Jazz though, and it will be an interesting decision to see whether he opts to take the guaranteed money in his early thirties or bets on himself in an attempt to sign a more lucrative deal.
Who is on Jordan Clarkson’s tattoos?
The child on his left arm is his daughter Callie. The woman is his mother, Annette Davis. On his bicep, the tattoo represents his father Mike Clarkson. Another face on his arm is his childhood friend who passed away. There are also a couple of NBA legends tattooed on his legs.
Does Jordan Clarkson have a ring?
Jordan Clarkson has been yet to win an NBA ring.
Where did Jordan Clarkson go to college?
Jordan Clarkson had a two-year stint at Tulsa University in his college basketball career, before taking the opportunity to join Missouri and elevate his game. At Missouri he was rewarded with Second Team All-Conference honors in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
