Lakers: Jordan Clarkson’s Resurgence Makes Things Difficult

Despite Jordan Clarkson’s inspired play as of late, he still has a long way to go before he can rejoin the conversation as one of the Lakers’ young stars.

Jordan Clarkson was the feel good story of the 2014-15 NBA season. Selected with the No. 46 pick in the 2014 draft, Clarkson shattered expectations in his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Not only was he the first player in franchise history to earn Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors, but he also made the All-Rookie first team in favor of 16 of the 17 guards taken before him, including lottery picks Zach LaVine, Marcus Smart, Dante Exum and Nik Staukas. Not bad for a second round pick.

Since then, however, Clarkson has been just okay. He’s even been borderline unwatchable some games this season. Why that is can be attributed to a number of things–the first and most obvious being the lack of a consistent role.

In his first season with the Purple and Gold, Clarkson thrived as the Lakers’ primary ball handler. Following the All-Star break, Clarkson was second among rookies in points per game (16.7), only trailing the No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, and he was also second in assists per game (5.4). While the scoring is still there, Clarkson’s playmaking instincts are all but gone.

Clarkson ended his rookie season posting two double-doubles. His first came against the Philadelphia 76ers on Mar. 30, where scored 26 points and added a career-high 11 assists. A month later against the New Orleans Pelicans, Clarkson would earn his second and last career double-double.

That season alone, Clarkson had 18 games where he finished with five or more assists. Over the last two seasons, however, Clarkson has had just 14. While those numbers may sound discouraging (they are), there are several factors that have contributed to Clarkson’s rapid decline since then–one of them being the arrival of D’Angelo Dante Russell.

Going into the 2015 draft, the Lakers had a potentially franchise-changing decision to make. Would they take the crafty point guard out of The Ohio State University, D’Angelo Russell, or would they play it safe and draft Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, who had just come off a championship run with the Blue Devils? At the time, fans were hoping for the latter and that had a lot, if not everything, to do with Jordan Clarkson.

Yes, the Lakers had a glaring hole at the center position and drafting Okafor would have given them a long-term solution to that problem, but the logic behind drafting Okafor had more to do with fans not wanting LA to draft another guard. Drafting another young guard meant less playing time for Clarkson, who fans saw as the point guard of the future at the time.

Sound familiar? It should (cc: Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz).

Despite strong opposition from the fans, the front office opted to go with Russell with the hope that he and Clarkson would be the Lakers’ starting backcourt for the next “10-12 years.”

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” former general manager Mitch Kupchak said in an interview with Brian Geltzeiler and Rick Mahorn on Sirius XM NBA Radio. “We don’t look at them as players that can’t play with each other or have to play with somebody else. We think they can play together.”

Because Russell projected to be a better ball handler and playmaker than Clarkson, Jordan played shooting guard while D’Angelo ran the show up top. The results? Less than ideal.

While both players managed to get their shots up, their defense–or lack thereof–made it impossible to keep them on the floor together. Since then, not much has changed as ESPN’s Zach Lowe noted in last week’s installment of “Ten things I like and don’t like.”

"D’Angelo Russell hasn’t been much better, and the Lakers have to conclude that the Russell-Clarkson duo is unplayable in real games. The Lakers have allowed an unthinkable, flammable, unholy 118.1 points per 100 possessions in the 369 minutes those two have shared the floor — the eighth-worst mark among 1,200-plus duos that have logged at least 250 minutes together, per NBA.com. (Four of the seven pairings below them also come from the Lakers. Drive that tank, baby!)"

The 10-12 years Kupchak envisioned initially was cut to less than 10-12 months because of the pair’s atrocious defense. This forced Luke Walton to make a tough decision as the start of his first season as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach grew nearer.

Was he going to start Russell and bench Clarkson? Would he try Clarkson on the ball on Russell of the ball? Would Russell move to the bench? The answer to all of those questions is simply, yes.

Yes to everything.

Walton tried Clarkson off the bench for the first three-quarters of this season, but JC struggled to get into a rhythm while sharing the backcourt with the NBA’s leading bench scorer Lou Williams.

Jan 22, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Louis Williams (left) and guard Jordan Clarkson (right) warm up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Before Sweet Lou was shipped to Houston, Clarkson was averaging just 13.7 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the field and was dishing out a career-low 2.1 assists per game. He wasn’t just struggling; he was noticeably digressing.

With Williams out of the picture, Clarkson has been able to initiate the offense with the ball in his hands. His ability to create his own shot and beat defenders to the rim with his quickness is what made him such an exciting prospect his rookie season and he has shown flashes of that since the All-Star break.

On Sunday night, Clarkson exploded for 30 points against the Philadelphia 76ers, tying his career-high. It was also his best game of the season on the playmaking front, an area the coaching staff, the fans and he would like to him improve going forward.

“I’m trying to find that balance again,” Clarkson told reporters after Sunday night’s loss to Philly. “I’ve been kinda thrown into different roles each and every year so coming off the bench, coach [Walton] got me in a role where I’m able to have the ball and do some things with it. Try to get my teammates shots and continue to make plays.”

The following day, Clarkson’s role would change yet again. Before Monday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets, it was announced that Clarkson would start at point guard, moving D’Angelo Russell to the bench for the first time this season.

Before Monday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets, it was announced that Clarkson would get the starting nod over Russell, who had started every game he was healthy prior to Luke’s lineup change. This move came as a surprise to many, considering Russell was playing the best stretch of NBA basketball of his two-year career.

While Clarkson thrived in his new starting role, Russell had an off night in The Mile High City. Fast forwards a few days later to Wednesday’s game in Houston and not a whole lot had changed. Clarkson finished with 18 points, Russell finished with 5. Think Russell likes his new role as much as Clarkson likes his? Think again.

How do you keep two starting-caliber point guards happy without moving one of them to the bench? Short answer, you can’t.

Moving Clarkson back to the bench is the easiest solution to this problem, but Walton seems fixated–at least for now–on the idea of Clarkson running point, which is fine, but you can’t have Clarkson in the starting lineup and Russell on the bench. If Clarkson’s starting, Russell should be right there with him.

The coaching staff gave up on the Swag Bros. after just one season. You think Steph Curry and Klay Thompson’s defensive numbers were fantastic their first two years together? If giving up 103.2 points per 100 possessions is great, then sure. At the end of the day, they figured it out because young backcourts don’t get better by not playing together.

If the coaching staff won’t even entertain the idea of starting the two together again, then Clarkson needs to move back to the bench. Russell can’t afford to not play in games he can make mistakes. If the front office wants him to make the leap next season, he needs to be starting, with or without Clarkson.

Next: 3 differences between Luke and Byron

All stats are accurate as of Mar. 17, 2017 per stats.nba.com and basketball-reference.com unless otherwise noted. Follow @TheLakeShowLife for the latest on the Purple and Gold.