With the NBA trade deadline a couple weeks away, the Los Angeles Lakers could be one of the more active teams looking to shed cap space for the summer, and Jordan Clarkson’s name remains prominent in discussions.
The name that appears most often in trade talks surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers is guard Jordan Clarkson, who’s in the second year of a four-year, $50 million fully guaranteed contract. Clarkson, the longest-tenured Laker on roster, is scoring 13.5 points per game on 44.0 percent shooting, with 3.0 assists per night as well.
He remains one of the league’s best scorers off the bench, and was having a career-high efficient season until injuries to the Lakers caused an increase in minutes and role for the guard. But Clarkson could serve a purpose for playoff-bound teams that struggle with bench scoring, even if the market is much tougher this time around.
Last season, the Lakers flipped Lou Williams for Corey Brewer and a first round pick in a trade with the Houston Rockets. The Lakers would love if they could duplicate that value this time around, but it is unlikely they can net a first round pick for Clarkson. His contract isn’t as friendly, he’s not as good of a player as Lou and teams that could use his services don’t have the necessary cap room or piece to make a deal.
Teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder come to mind, but they’re so limited in terms of cap space that a third team would be needed, and the Lakers would have to take some multi-year cheap deals in return, something they’re seeking to avoid.
When the cap situation is tight, it’s tough to find teams that could use Clarkson’s services and have the cap fit without the Lakers offloading another piece. So these are the two most sensible trades I could find for Clarkson, starting with a simple two-team trade before ending with a three-team deal that I would love to see happen.