The Utah Jazz have started the season at 2-1, and were a Domantas Sabonis and-1 from being undefeated. There's no telling if their winning ways will continue, but for everything that's happened thus far, one decision has looked pretty smart: waiving Jordan Clarkson.
It had been clear for years that Utah had no use for Clarkson, and while their preference would have been to trade him for assets, that wasn't an option. Hence, they decided to swallow the last year of his contract. Soon enough, Clarkson was scooped up by the New York Knicks.
Well, four games into the season, Clarkson has looked, as the kids say, "washed." Last night was his best game as a Knick, as he put up 10 points while shooting four-for-seven from the field, including two threes. A perfectly adequate statline, but Clarkson has shown he is capable of much more, and his statlines in his previous three games are pretty dreadful.
Before the Knicks' game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Clarkson shot six-for-23 from the field while hitting two threes in 10 attempts. Not to mention three assists to two turnovers. The Jazz are more than familiar with that, but Clarkson still has yet to have an explosion he would have in Utah. Signs point to the Jazz getting rid of him at the right time, even if the way they did so was suboptimal.
Waiving him gives more time to the youngsters
While the Jazz alum didn't do anything wrong per se, Clarkson was taking up space on the roster, which got in the way of the young guards on Utah's roster. Now that he's no longer part of the team, the Jazz can finally let their young guys develop.
Even if the season is still in its infant stages, Utah has gotten to see Keyonte George show improvement while Walter Clayton Jr. has looked like a staple of the team's future. If Clarkson had still been on the team, that may not have been an option.
There shouldn't be any hate directed at Clarkson because he embraced Utah and even chose to stay when the opportunity presented itself. He may not have fit with the team's plans, but it's always great to see a skilled player take pride in being a Jazzman.
Still, the fact remains that Clarkson looks like he's past his heyday, which makes Utah look smart for cutting ties when the team did. This could have been their problem had they opted to keep him in the hopes of making a trade down the line, but waiving him has proven to be the right move, warts and all.