Utah Jazz: 5 offseason roster moves they must make

1. Re-sign Jordan Clarkson

After trading for Jordan Clarkson mid-season, the Utah Jazz went on a 10-game winning streak. They then lost a single game to the New Orleans Pelicans. They then went on another four-game winning streak.

Prior to the Jazz trading for Clarkson, they had a 18-16 record, meaning they won just under 53 percent of their games. After the arrival of Clarkson the Jazz had a 26-12 record which means they won just over 68 percent of their games. This is a massive difference.

Clarkson averaged 15.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.7 steals in 24.7 minutes per game. He was not overly efficient with shooting splits of .462/.366/.785. While these are good numbers they are not enough to explain why there was such a rise in winning percentage.

What Clarkson’s impact was that he took defensive attention away from Donovan Mitchell and Bogdanovic, which allowed them to play a more expansive game. Clarkson is a flat out scorer, if you leave him alone he is going to hurt you.

The 28 year old was on a $13 million contract last season which the Jazz are not going to be in a position to match as their books currently stand. However, this is the first successful team Clarkson has played on and this may have him leaning towards signing at a lesser value.

If the Jazz do not take up the team option of Mike Conley’s contract then they will have a greater ability to re-sign Clarkson. This brings us to our next roster move.