NBA Trade Rumors: Should the Los Angeles Lakers Still Consider Moving Jordan Clarkson?
Clarkson is currently under contract with the team through the 2019-20 season
Jordan Clarkson, current Los Angeles Lakers guard and bench sparkplug, is having himself one great season. But will that translate to spending more time with the team or will it hasten a move elsewhere?
Clarkson's improved numbers through the early part of this season are predicated on improved efficiency.
The 25-year-old is putting up a scoring average that is pretty close to what he did last year, but the difference is that he is doing so more efficiently. His field goal and three-point shooting percentages are up significantly from last year's marks, and he is likewise taking less time to produce, according to Basketball-Reference.
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While the improvements can be chalked up to small sample size noise or just an early season hot streak, it is also possible that Clarkson has improved since he has gained more experience.
He is a valuable member of this current Lakers team for sure, but whether he will be part of future iterations of the club is the question that really needs to be asked.
It is no secret that the Lakers have big things in mind for the coming summer.
At various points throughout this year, the Lakers have been linked to stars such as Paul George and LeBron James. Obviously, if the Lakers have a shot at signing both George and James and possibly another high-priced free agent, they should pounce on the opportunity to do so. But before they can do that, they will need to make some other moves.
That is where Clarkson comes in. Currently, the Lakers are set to pay Clarkson $12.5 million and $13.4 million for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons respectively, as noted on Spotrac.
Clarkson's cap figure is big enough that the Lakers may not be able to keep him and then sign multiple star free agents as well, especially with 2018-19 salary cap projected to be at $101 million, according to an earlier tweet from noted NBA insider Shams Charania.
To put it simply, if the Lakers are going to sign some superstars next summer, they are likely going to need to move Clarkson and possibly some other players too.
Heading into this season, moving Clarkson for cap space seemed like an obvious thing to do. But with him stepping up and playing more effectively, the Lakers may be better served to at least hang on to him for this year and see if the improvements are going to stick.
For what it is worth, Clarkson does not seem to mind all the speculations about his future that much, as he told the Los Angeles Times' Tania Ganguli that he gets motivated by those rumors and he will continue aiming to be productive regardless of which team he is playing for.
Right now, the Lakers are the ones benefiting from Clarkson's improved play, and there may still be a chance that he will continue doing that for the team even in the seasons ahead.
