Los Angeles Lakers: Will Jordan Clarkson Step Up This Year?

After signing a big contract in the NBA offseason, will Jordan Clarkson step up for the Los Angeles Lakers?

The Los Angeles Lakers have a core in place for the future. They just drafted Brandon Ingram from Duke and he will join a trio of young players to play at the Staples Center in Julius Randle, DeAngelo Russell, and Jordan Clarkson.

Together, those four will grow as a unit and the Lakers management is hoping that they can be contenders one day. They are building for the future.

In the offseason, the Lakers made sure that they kept apart of the core in place by re-signing Clarkson to a four-year, $50 million contract. Clarkson will be a Laker until 2020 where he then becomes an unrestricted free agent.

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But in an offseason where the salary cap jump spiked up all the contracts, it was smart of the Lakers to re-sign Clarkson using his Early Bird Rights. They also avoided any other hassle of trying to pry him away from the interest of other teams.

It’s not too shabby a contract for a guy who went 46th in the 2014 NBA Draft; now he has to go and prove that the Lakers made a smart decision in bringing him back to LA.

Clarkson brings value to the Los Angeles Lakers because of his ability to play both guard positions. In his rookie season, Clarkson mainly played the point guard spot. But the following year, when DeAngelo Russell got drafted, Clarkson moved over to play shooting guard.

He performed very well at the 2-spot, averaging four more points per game than he did the year prior. The assist averages may have gone down, but much of that was due to the ball being in Russell’s hands when the Lakers were on offense.

Clarkson proved he could play the shooting guard position in his rookie year, sometimes playing alongside Jeremy Lin and last year was just another example of his versatility. He can be the primary ball handler when Russell is off the floor and gives the Lakers options at the point guard spot.

If Luke Walton doesn’t feel like playing Marcelo Huertas or Jose Calderon when it comes to backing up Russell, he can give Clarkson some minutes at the point.

His contract could prove to be a steal if he continues to improve. Clarkson is showing that he can be a solid second or third option on this Lakers team, especially if he continues to improve shooting the ball from the outside.

Clarkson shot 34.7 percent from three last year and had an effective field goal percentage of 48.3 percent. If he can get his three-point percentage up, he can give the Lakers a very solid option in terms of outside shooting.

LA was dead last in three-point shooting percentage last year, averaging just over 30 percent from deep at 31.7 percent. If they want to improve as a team this year, that average has to go up.

Although it was overshadowed by the retirement tour of Kobe Bryant, Clarkson’s improvement last year was a big bright spot for the Lakers. He showed he can play two positions and improved as a scorer.

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With the salary cap expected to spike again next offseason, we may see some players who are worse than Clarkson get paid more than him. With its main four players under contract for quite some time, this gives the Lakers cap flexibility heading into the next few offseasons. It may help them land a key free agent that LA has desperately needed.

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