Jordan Clarkson

Jordan Taylor Clarkson (born June 7, 1992) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played college basketball for two seasons with Tulsa before transferring to Missouri, where he earned second-team all-conference honors in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

On November 11, 2009, Clarkson signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at the University of Tulsa.

As a senior, he averaged 18.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.1 steals, leading his team to a 38–2 record and a semi-final loss in the state championship.

He was also named San Antonio High School Player of the Year.

In his freshman season at Tulsa, Clarkson was named to the 2011 Conference USA All-Freshman team after being named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week four times in 2010–11.

In 27 games (nine starts), he averaged 11.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 24.9 minutes per game.

In his sophomore season, he was named to the All-Conference USA first team and the NABC All-District 11 team.

In 31 games (all starts), he averaged 16.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 33.9 minutes per game.

In May 2012, Clarkson transferred to Missouri and subsequently sat out the 2012–13 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

After forgoing his senior year in college to enter the 2014 NBA draft, Clarkson was selected by the Washington Wizards in the second round with the 46th overall pick and was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

In his redshirted junior season, he was named to the 2014 All-SEC second team.

He was also named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list in January 2014 and won three Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors.

In 35 games (all starts), he averaged 17.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 35.1 minutes per game.

On March 31, 2014, Clarkson declared for the NBA draft, foregoing his final year of college eligibility.

On June 26, 2014, Clarkson was selected with the 46th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards.

He was later traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on draft night for cash considerations, and joined the team for the 2014 NBA Summer League.

On August 25, 2014, he signed with the Lakers.

During his rookie season, he received multiple assignments to the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League, and did not play for the Lakers for most of the first half of the season.

However, he ended up starting 38 games for the Lakers, primarily at point guard, and averaged 15.8 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.2 rebounds as a starter.

On March 24, 2015, Clarkson along with Jeremy Lin, became the first Asian-American starting back court in NBA history.

In 2021, Clarkson was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

Clarkson was born in Tampa, Florida, to African-American Mike Clarkson and Filipina American Annette Tullao Davis.

Davis' mother, Marcelina Tullao Kingsolver, was from Bacolor, Pampanga, Philippines.

Both his parents served in the United States Air Force and divorced when Clarkson was young, with Clarkson's father later remarrying Janie Clarkson.

He moved to San Antonio, Texas around the age of six.

He attended Karen Wagner High School in San Antonio.

As a sophomore, he averaged 10 points per game while earning honorable mention all-district accolades.

As a junior, he averaged 20 points, six rebounds and four assists per game, leading his team to a 32–8 record and the Class 5A state semi-finals.

On March 24, 2015, he had a season-best game with 30 points and 7 assists in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Starting alongside Jeremy Lin, the pair became the first Asian-American starting backcourt in league history.

On March 30 and April 1, Clarkson recorded back-to-back double-doubles.

For the season, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

In the prior 30 years, there had been only four other second-round picks that were named to the first team.

Clarkson after joining the Lakers garnered a huge following in the Philippines owing to his Filipino heritage and the existing fanbase of the NBA team in the country.

On November 3, 2015, Clarkson scored a career-high-tying 30 points in a 120–109 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

On February 12, 2016, Clarkson played for Team USA in the Rising Stars Challenge, where he recorded 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in a win over Team World.

Clarkson was traded to the Cavaliers in 2018.

In December 2019 he was traded to the Jazz.