Lakers Rumors: Jordan Clarkson drawing interest from New York Knicks
By Keith Rivas
The latest Lakers rumors report interest in Jordan Clarkson coming from the New York Knicks.
While the young Lakers star has expressed that he wishes to remain in Los Angeles for the long term, CBS Sports reported on Thursday that the New York Knicks aren’t ready to give up on him going elsewhere just yet.
Jordan Clarkson is a free agent this off-season, and could get quite the look from the Big Apple before next year’s activities begin.
The pursuit of Clarkson is to reportedly fill the void at point guard that New York has at the moment, with Memphis’ Mike Conley also in the conversation.
With Los Angeles, Clarkson had a strong rookie season as he averaged 12 points, three boards, and one steal per contest.
In his sophomore campaign, Clarkson saw much more time on the floor, averaging over 30 minutes of playing time, and increased his scoring and rebounding averages to 15 and four, respectively.
Conley was rumored to be one of the points of interest for the Lakers this off-season, but those rumors don’t seem to be holding water.
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Clarkson’s free agency is restricted, which means that whatever New York tried throwing his way in terms of money and contract talk is something that Los Angeles would have the opportunity to match in order to keep him around.
Keeping the chemistry of the young core together is crucial for the Lakers to return to any sort of competitive state in the NBA, and it’s a road that only gets tougher without Jordan Clarkson around.
In the absence of Kobe Bryant, Clarkson will now get a chance to have Los Angeles all to himself and show the fan base and the front office what an underdog story is all about.
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It’ll be up to him whether or not that’s what he’d like to make of his career in professional basketball or not, but the chance of a lifetime with the Lakers is going to be hard to pass up.