During a summer in which the NBA’s available-player market is barren of high-end guards, restricted free agent Jordan Clarkson has some serious curb appeal. Just don’t bank on him leaving the Los Angeles Lakers.
As he told NBCLosAngeles.com’s Shahan Ahmed:
“LA is like home for me, so I definitely want to be here,” Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson told NBCLA.com in a conference room tucked away on the second floor of the LA Convention Center.
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“I definitely want to stay in LA but kind of have an open mind,” Clarkson opened up about the upcoming free agency process that lies ahead.
Thanks to the collective bargaining agreement’s Gilbert Arenas provision, Clarkson can get his wish. The Lakers can still match any offer he receives from another team without dipping into their cap space.
Though they can cut into their spending power to keep him if they please, the Lakers, in theory, can also carve out two-contract slots, burn that money on stars and role players, then travel over the cap to keep Clarkson. So the odds are good that he returns to Los Angeles.
Just imagine a perimeter core of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Brandon Ingram. That’s pretty boss. This assumes, of course that the Lakers are willing to foot the bill for Clarkson, a combo guard who is a few consistent defensive stances away from really taking off. There’s still a chance that, in this summer’s cap climate, he prices himself outside Hollywood.
We also can’t forget about the DeMar DeRozan bugaboo, either. If the Lakers do poach him from the Toronto Raptors after drafting Ingram, Clarkson doesn’t necessarily fit into the starting rotation. Head coach Luke Walton could most definitely slot Ingram at the 4, DeRozan at the 3 and keep the backcourt of Clarkson and Russell intact, but is that a core you can build around long term? And what happens to Julius Randle in this scenario?
These are, quite obviously, just hypotheticals. More likely than not, no matter what Los Angeles does in free agency, Clarkson will be in a Lakers uniform next season.
