Jazz must finally trade Jordan Clarkson to enhance their rebuild
Trading season for the Utah Jazz is like the winter for Game of Thrones. It’s coming. For the last two years, the Jazz have actually gotten pretty involved in trades throughout the regular season, and after the start they’ve had, it would be pretty easy that they will get involved again.
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto revealed the latest intel on who from the Jazz would be available via trade. None of his intel is particularly earth-shattering news.
“All eyes are on Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, and Collin Sexton,” Scotto wrote. “…With Keyonte George starting full-time this season, executives are monitoring Sexton and Clarkson’s availability for potential backcourt depth.”
It’s no surprise that Sexton and Clarkson are available for that reason, but Clarkson’s availability should be emphasized because he’s considerably older and doesn’t have much reason to be on a team like the Jazz.
Clarkson has embraced Utah since arriving in 2019. He’s been there through the highs and lows. He’s not overpaid in the slightest, and it’s impressive on his part that he’s still producing as well as he has. However, at this stage, he’s best off elsewhere, and not just because his services are best used on a team whose playoff hopes would benefit from adding him.
The Jazz’s young guards should inspire a Clarkson trade
George has definitely experienced some growing pains this season, but Will Hardy and Co. trust him for a reason. They believe he could be their guard of the future, and he’s not the only one.
They also have Isaiah Collier, whom the Jazz have favored over Patty Mills once he returns from injury. Despite Scotto’s words, it’s still a little ambiguous whether the Jazz plan to keep Sexton in the long run, but it’s been clear since 2022 that Clarkson should not be on the team. Drafting George and Collier has only made his departure feel inevitable.
Clarkson hasn’t hindered the Jazz’s tanking efforts, but he is hindering the Jazz’s ability to see what they have in some of their young guards. The reason for that is likely that they’re trying to make him appeal to potential trade partners. Since he only has two years left on his deal, his contract has more value than previous years.
But the point remains the same that since he’s in his 30s, he makes sense playing for other teams trying to win that need him, like the Nuggets. No one takes issue with Clarkson, but it seems like a trade is inevitable. It’s only a matter of who.
