Former Mizzou Basketball Star to Sign with New York Knicks

In his lone 2013-2014 season with Missouri, Clarkson averaged 17.5 points per game while leading Missouri to a 9-9 conference record, and five consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Clarkson spent over five seasons with the Jazz after being dealt to Utah from the Cleveland Cavaliers in December of 2019. During that stint, he averaged 17.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists, including a career best 20.8 points per game in 2022-2023.

Clarkson contributed to multiple Jazz playoff runs, with the furthest run coming in 2021 — the Western Conference Semifinals. That same season, he took home the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award, becoming the first and only Missouri Tiger to do so. He's proven to be one of the most successful bench players in recent history, leading the league in points off the bench since 2020 with 4,589.

Since then, the Jazz have slid into a full-fledged rebuild, starting a youth movement that includes 10 players aged 22 or younger on the roster, leaving Clarkson out of place.

He now has a chance to compete for a championship with the New York Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Clarkson joins a core consisting of former Villanova champions Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, as well as All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns and veteran forward OG Anunoby.

He's primed for success in New York, as the Knicks have had a rich history of strong sixth men, including Sixth Man of the Year award winners John Starks, Anthony Mason and J.R. Smith.

Clarkson becomes the second Missouri Tiger to switch NBA teams today, as NBA champion Michael Porter Jr. was traded to the Brooklyn Nets earlier this evening.

With the Knicks, Clarkson has a chance to become the fifth Missouri Tiger in history to win an NBA championship — a feat that's all the more possible in a weak Eastern Conference next year.