Jordan Clarkson

Gabby Hundman

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Jordan Clarkson 22/23 Season Mixtape | UTAH JAZZ

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PHOTOS | Jordan Clarkson 22/23 Season

Jeremy Rincon

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PHOTOS | Team 49

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End of Season Exit Interview: Jordan Clarkson

Ryan Kostecka

Entering the 2022-23 NBA season, there might not have been two players on Utah's roster with more questions surrounding them than Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen.&nbsp;

That sort of intrigue combined with the remarkable season they’ve both had has landed Clarkson and Markkanen on the cover of Slam Magazine. They’re the third and fourth Jazz players to grace the cover of the magazine, joining Deron Williams and Donovan Mitchell. 

Clarkson was the veteran on a rebuilding team, moving from the bench into the starting five, and it was unknown how we would do with more responsibility, both on the court and in the locker room.&nbsp;

Markkanen was seen around the NBA as a 7-foot shooter, someone who had turned into a role player rather than one leading a team. Nobody knew how he would do with the pressures of being a No. 1 or 2 option, how he would be able to adjust to being at the top of opponents scouting reports night in and night out. 

Both players answered those questions and did so in incredible fashion. If Clarkson and Markkanen were tested this season, it's safe to say they've passed with flying colors.&nbsp;

"Confidence is everything in this league," Markkanen said in an interview with SLAM Magazine. "It makes everything so much easier when you believe in yourself, what you're doing, but it goes to your teammates as well. I think it's just everything in this building. … We all believe in each other, and I think that's really helping us build something bigger than ourselves."

As Utah's No. 1 option, Markkanen has emerged as one of the top players in the league and an All-NBA candidate. He's averaging career-highs in points (25.7), shot attempts (17.3), field goal percentage (50.1%), free throw percentage (87.3%), assists (1.9), and minutes (34.4).&nbsp;

He's also averaging 8.7 rebounds per game, 39.4% from three, and 58.9% effective field goal percentage, all the second-most in his career.

It's also been a career season for Clarkson, shedding the sixth man moniker to emerge as one of the more versatile guards in the league. He's averaging 20.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, both career highs. But the biggest development has come from his play-making ability, averaging a career-high 4.4 assists as he's shown the ability to facilitate an offense at a high level.&nbsp;

"You know, this is my home. … Salt Lake City has accepted me, and I'm proud to be here," Clarkson told Slam. "The Jazz, this is my family, and they let me be me.

Apart from their brilliant individual seasons, Markkanen and Clarkson have been the leaders for a Jazz team that many expected to be in the running for the No. 1 overall pick. Instead, they've led the Jazz to the brink of the postseason, having Utah in contention for one of the final play-in spots with just four games left in the regular season.

"We've got big goals for ourselves," Markkanen said. "Obviously it is a process, but we're not trying to fast forward a little bit as well [in] trying to build a winning culture. …For everybody, the end goal is to win a championship. I don't think we're here just to have a good time. … We're trying to win games and play meaningful games. That's what we're working toward."&nbsp;

One of the driving forces in that mentality has been the success of the younger players on the roster.&nbsp;

Rookies Walker Kessler and Ochai Agbaji look like steals in their respective trades from this past summer, while guards Talen Horton-Tucker and Collin Sexton have been sensational in spurts.&nbsp;

"Everybody is hungry," Clarkson added. "We've got a bunch of young guys who are willing to prove themselves, coming in here to work. … That's like a foundation point of anything."&nbsp;

Despite the season's success — especially compared to preseason expectations — there were trials and tribulations that Jazz have gone through. But they turned them into moments of growth that will serve the team very well in the near future.&nbsp;

"It goes with the territory," Clarkson said. "The biggest thing is that you wake up, and the sun comes out the next day. … You put your shoes back on, tie 'em up and figure it out. All of this is a part of the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs. … The roller coaster ain't no fun unless it makes loops."

Through those moments of learning — and when reflecting on his past — Clarkson has been able to impart his wisdom to Markkanen and the Jazz. It's part of why Utah's 'rebuild' has been accelerated and why the Jazz expect to be contenders sooner rather than later.

"I know it sounds crazy, but stick with the process," Clarkson said. "The biggest thing you can always say: it's never a failure, it's just a learning experience."

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"Stick With The Process" | Clarkson And Markkanen Grace Cover Of SLAM Magazine

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PHOTOS | Battling With The Best

Make no mistake, Jordan Clarkson's injury to his right hand was legit.

Suffered in a game against San Antonio on Feb. 25, Clarkson had his right thumb bent to the point where it nearly touched the back of his hand. This caused severe muscle damage in his hand that made it almost impossible to grip or hold anything, making it very hard to play if you're a right-hand dominant NBA player.

But in a typical Clarkson way — he refused to allow the injury to slow him down.

While he very well could still be rehabbing the injury, Clarkson elected to return to the court on Sunday night against Oklahoma City. Despite battling through a rough shooting night where it took him time to find a feel/grip for the ball and the game, he had one of the best games of his career.

Clarkson finished with 18 points and a career-high 13 assists — a fact he didn't know until I mentioned it postgame.

"For real? Dang, I never passed the ball that much in my life," he said with a smile and laugh. "Tonight was just about the game and reads. … They were helping a lot, so I was just trying to make the right play."

While much of the story will be about Clarkson's thumb and his continued rehab/playing through the pain, the bigger outline is about his progress this year as a playmaker.

With a coach who fully trusts him to have the ball in his hands at critical points of the game, Clarkson has rewritten the narrative about him being strictly a shooter. He's playing with a different sort of confidence and understanding this season, leading to averaging a career-high 4.4 assists per game — including Sunday's breakout.

"There's a lot of nights where we need Jordan's scoring, but I think he's done a really great job of trying to have a little bit of humility on the offensive end," head coach Will Hardy said. "It's hard to do what he did tonight because there were so many possessions where we wanted him to shoot. … But it speaks to his growth and his buy-in on how we've asked him to play this season."

For much of his career, when Clarkson did pass the ball for an assist, it usually came to a cutting big in the lane after he broke his man down and had a two-on-one situation at the rim. But where the natural evolution of his game has come is that he's now seeing the entire floor, understanding the spacing of the offense and rotations on defense.

For example, look at the pass he makes to Kelly Olynyk (below) on Sunday.

He beats his defender off the dribble and gets to the paint with ease, but rather than taking a contested layup, he looks like he will lay a drop down pass to Walker Kessler. But seeing the rotation and how OKC's Josh Giddey dropped, Clarkson whips the ball out to the corner — albeit with his left hand — to a wide-open Olynyk for a three.

Not only does this pass show just how much his game has matured this season, it's a pass that he always has been capable of making but had yet to do so until he was given the opportunity as a playmaker.

"I think Jordan has a hard job because he's such a potent scorer, but we need him to find moments of flow, and he did that tonight," Hardy said. "I know from being on opposing coaching staffs that JC is always on the scouting report, but I think the thing where he's improved the most is finding players on the weak side. For him, it's about other ways he can help our team more than just scoring, and I think he's bought into that for us."

While the Jazz continue to battle for a postseason spot, Clarkson will undoubtedly have a big say in how Utah's final 17 games go. But if Sunday was any indication that this team will roll over with the third-most difficult schedule left in the season, don't buy into it.

Clarkson could've mailed it in the rest of the season with his injury, but instead, he was battling with the rest of his team — and that's all Jazz Nation can ask for.

"I think everybody is still good, we come in here and competing," Clarkson said. "Everybody is ready for their opportunity when they get in there, so it's not like we trying to lose or anything. We coming out here playing hard and competing. … It's a part of the growth process."

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"For Real?" | Clarkson Battles Through Injury To Set Career-High In Assists, A Notion To The Evolution Of His Game

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Highlights: Jordan Clarkson – 18 points, 13 assists, 4 rebounds

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