Report: Lakers could reunite with former Sixth Man of the Year

In what constitutes massive progress over last season, the Los Angeles Lakers still have more games to play in April. In the same breath, they may already be looking ahead to their offseason plans.

Speaking this week with Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney, an unnamed Eastern Conference executive said that the Lakers could potentially make a run at former Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson this summer. Clarkson, who will turn 31 in June, can decline his player option with the Utah Jazz for 2023-24 (worth $14.3 million) and become an unrestricted free agent upcoming, should he so choose.

Originally a second-round draft pick by the Lakers in 2014, Clarkson spent the first four years of his career in Los Angeles. After being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018, he has since developed into one of the NBA’s top second-unit flamethrowers. Clarkson averaged 18.4 points per-game coming off the bench for the Utah Jazz in 2020-21 (his Sixth Man of the Year campaign) and bested that working as a starter for Utah during the just-completed regular season, averaging 20.8 points per-game.

While his defense has always been a bit lacking, Clarkson’s offensive bag of tricks can stack up with anyone’s.