Does Jordan Clarkson Have The Keys?

LA fans seem to be getting restless with the Lakers.

As a Laker fan also, I can relate. The Lakers have missed out on the playoffs for the past two years in a row.

Laker fans have been left watching the postseason from the sidelines.

LA has only missed the playoffs 7 times in their 67 years of being a franchise.

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The fans and Lakers are itching to get back to the glory days of winning some championships.

As of now, that doesn’t seem like it will be anytime soon.

It makes it seem even more unlikely when you look at how competitive the Western Conference is.

Despite coming off of the worst season in LA’s franchise history there is a glimmer of hope for the future.

There should be some excitement with the potential star, Jordan Clarkson. Clarkson is coming off of his first season as a Laker.

Clarkson entered the league as the 46th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and started fourth on the Lakers’ point guard depth chart behind Steve Nash, Jeremy Lin, and Ronnie Price.

As Clarkson continued to be fourth on the depth chart he averaged about 11. 8 minutes per game in the Lakers first 43 games.

Then January 21st came. Kobe Bryant, the face of the Lakers franchise, injured his rotator cuff.

Bryant was then ruled out for the remainder of the season due to the fact he would need surgery to repair this injury.

With Bryant’s injury the Lakers turned to the 46th pick in the NBA Draft, Jordan Clarkson.

By this point in the season the Lakers held a 12-31 record so from the Lakers point of view there was nothing to lose with playing Clarkson. Clarkson finally got the chance he had been waiting for as he watched from the sidelines game after game.

Clarkson and the Lakers held a 1-10 record in his first 11 starts for the team.

Coach Byron Scott still did not give up hope on this young player.

As time went on Clarkson began to win over the fans in LA by putting up good numbers despite the record of the Lakers.

Clarkson put up 17.0 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.7 rebounds over his final 25 games of the season, which earned the 22-year old rookie of the month honors for the month of March.

Clarkson looked very impressive in his final 38 games with his average points and assists putting him in the elite company of players such as Chris Paul, John Wall, Damien Lillard, and Kyrie Irving.

These players were a select few that averaged 15.8 points 5.0 assists per game their rookie season.

If that doesn’t excite you as a Laker fan, I don’t know what will?

So what does that mean for the future of the franchise with this rising star?

The 2015-2016 will now bring a new challenge to this young player.

Signs are pointing that he is going to be stepping into the role of shooting guard in this upcoming season.

The reason for this is because the Lakers drafted point guard D’Angelo Russel with the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

This will be interesting seeing that Clarkson was the primary player who was the primary ball handler for the Laker last season.

To me, it does make sense to play Russell in the point guard position and allow Clarkson to shoot and hopefully put up points like he did last season.

With the Kobe era coming to an end there is a glimmer of hope with this Lakers’ side.

Bottom Line: The future is bright, the stars are brighter.

I do believe Clarkson will be one to watch in the future with the partnership of D’Angelo Russell.

LA fans should be excited for the future as Clarkson continues to develop as a player in the NBA.

I’m not saying that they will return to glory this season, but we may see them contend in the next couple years with this bright star.