Per Zach Lowe - Utah Jazz unwilling to part with Jordan Clarkson?

One thing we’ve learned here at SLC Dunk is when Danny Ainge is the manager of your basketball team you will be writing about a lot of trade rumors.

The latest tidbit of trade buzz we’ve heard come from Zach Lowe’s podcast. While talking with Chris Herring he mentioned that the Utah Jazz are “super reluctant to move Clarkson.” He talks about it at 53:17.

If you don’t have time to listen, here’s what he said.

“I’ve heard the same stuff that other people have reported that they are just super reluctant to move Clarkson. They’re really fond of him for whatever reason so I would peg him as the least likely of all these Jazz guys to get traded.”

This matches up with what we’ve heard from other local reporters that the Jazz are reluctant to trade Jordan Clarkson and would like to keep him on the team. It makes sense in the context of the current situation with the Jazz. Clarkson is a great guy to have in the locker room, which can be invaluable for a team that will likely see some turmoil this season. He’s also a fun player to watch that creates at least one highlight play every night. Remember this?

The Jazz have come out hot and have been a lot of fun to watch to begin the season, but it’s more than likely that this team will have some extended periods of losing. If they go through any type of cold spell shooting, or if they have some injuries to any of their key players, there will be some extended losing streaks. To have a player like Clarkson when the chips are down can be beneficial to a coach and to a culture. When teams are winning, everyone is all-in on doing what’s best for the team. When the losses start piling up, you start to see guys looking to get their stats for future contracts.

We’ve also heard that Clarkson likes living in Utah, and that’s not something to scoff at. Considering we’ve just spent well over a year hearing constant rumors that Donovan Mitchell wants to leave for New York or Miami, rumors he not once refuted, it is nice to have a more positive voice for the team in the locker room.

On top of all that, we’ve seen Clarkson evolve his game as a distributor. Sure, it’s only four games, but Clarkson is averaging a career-high 5.3 assists per game, which is 2 more assists per game than his career average. Could Clarkson play more point guard if a trade happens with Mike Conley? It could happen if the Jazz make some sort of move with the Lakers.