Report: Jordan Clarkson and Utah Jazz in talks for 3-year extension

According to Marc Stein, the Utah Jazz are in talks with Jordan Clarkson to keep him on the Jazz for three more years.

With the free agency floodgates about to open, it appears we’re seeing a preview of a new contract to come but it’s important to remember these are discussions and this could always fall through.

If the Jazz and Clarkson figure out their contract, it’s a great story of a player that has been the connecting piece between two eras of Jazz basketball.

Jazz fans fell in love with Clarkson quickly when he joined the Jazz’s former chapter which included Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. When the Jazz traded Mitchell and Gobert, all that was left of the rotation was Clarkson and Mike Conley, who was eventually shipped off to Minnesota to join Gobert. It seemed inevitable that Clarkson would be shipped off at some point last season until the Jazz started playing. The Jazz were expected to be one of the teams tanking for Wembanyama but instead became the #1 seed in the Western Conference the first month of the season with Lauri Markkanen and the slew of players they traded for.

Utah would then trade the majority of their new veterans to give way to their younger and unproven prospects. Surely that would lead to more losses and top spot for lottery night? Nope, that’s when Jazz fans saw the emergence of Walker Kessler who played his way to third place in Rookie of the Year voting.

Clarkson was still a question mark this offseason with his player option and it seemed likely he might be gone until he opted in recently. With this news today, it appears the market may have dried up somewhat, or it’s likely he may have wanted to stay in Utah all along. Whatever the case, this is just additional depth and talent added to the Jazz which makes them one of the deeper teams in the league.

The question now will be how Clarkson fits into the rotation, and will the Jazz be making any moves to clear space for Clarkson and his new contract? The Jazz have a good amount of cap space that can fit most, or maybe all, of what Clarkson will make, but we may be seeing additional moves this season as the Jazz figure out a clearer rotation.

We’ll see if this contract happens, but if if does, it would be nice to have Jordan Clarkson back on the Jazz and be a leader in a locker room that is set up to be a playoff contender next season.