A major Utah Jazz name is named as a potential trade block option this offseason
By Chad Porto
When we talk about the most disappointing players this season, Jordan Clarkson will likely top the list, he or Taylor Hendricks. Hendricks has struggled quite a bit as a rookie but some expected that. Though Top 10 picks shouldn't struggle as rookies, that's why they're taken so high. Still, he's a rookie, you can almost excuse it.
Clarkson? He's 31 years old and was seen in the eyes of many as a Top 100 player, at worst. Some had him much higher, and others had him as a potential Top 10 shooting guard. Many thought if the Utah Jazz were going to make a run at the playoffs, that Clarkson would be a huge factor in that.
Instead, Clarkson went from a potential top-10 shooting guard to one of the worst sixth-men in the league in a matter of months. He's shooting a career worse from the floor (41.7%), a career worse from three (29.6%), his second-worst season from a true-shooting perspective (52.4%), and is easily the worst defender on the team. His defensive box plus minus of -3.1 is the second worst on the team behind Johnny Juzang (-3.3) but as Clarkson has played far more minutes, his DBPM is seen as more accurate. Not only that but of everyone who has played a minimum of 500 minutes, Clarkson has the worst box plus-minus. His BPM is -4.3, the worst of the team for anyone who has played most of the season.
Despite him being a mess, and one of the worst players in the NBA, Bleacher Report, with their whole chest, said that he's going to be a player on the trade block this offseason. Now, he should be, but the idea that a winner is going to be so desperate to want to go out and trade for Clarkson is the part that we're not buying. He's a losing player. He doesn't add anything to a team anymore that you can't find in someone younger and eventually better.
Clarkson's scoring is beyond overrated, as he's become highly inefficient and a hindrance to the Jazz's desire to win, at least early in the season. He's not worth a draft pick at this moment and the only trade that makes sense is a contract swap where the player the Jazz gets back is on a one-year deal, and is wholly useless as a player otherwise. Aside from a move like that, the Jazz shouldn't expect to get anything back of value for Clarkson.