Former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Shut Down for Rest of Season

A beloved NBA veteran is now done for the balance of the remaining 2024-25 season.

Former Sixth Man of the Year Utah Jazz combo guard Jordan Clarkson has been ruled out for his team's final nine games after undergoing "a medical procedure" to treat plantar fasciitis in his left foot, per a Jazz press statement.

Losing Clarkson for the duration of the regular season is ultimately a positive development for a Jazz club looking to lose as many games as possible to finish with a bottom-3 seed in the NBA.

Clarkson is one of Utah's best on-ball creators and sharpest scorers, so his extended absence down the home stretch should help the team stack up defeats.

That will maximize Utah's shot at nabbing the No. 1 overall pick in this summer's 2025 NBA Draft, where the prizes appear to be Duke power forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers standouts Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.

The 32-year-old has finished among the top seven in Sixth Man of the Year voting three times (once while splitting his 2017-18 season with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers, and twice with Utah), winning with the top-seeded Jazz in 2020-21.

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That year, on the 52-20 Jazz, Clarkson averaged 18.4 points on .425/.347/.896 shooting splits, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.9 steals a night.

Times may have changed since the Jazz jettisoned All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and veteran guard Mike Conley, but Clarkson remains a constant, as the longest-tenured player on the current roster.

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Utah sports a rough 16-57 record on the year, which is the worst win-loss tally in the league so far this season, half a game poorer than the 16-56 Washington Wizards. The 18-54 Charlotte Hornets and the 20-53 New Orleans Pelicans are lurking in this race to the bottom.

Clarkson inked a two-year, $28.4 million extension in the 2023 offseason. He'll earn $14.3 million from the team next season, and if he can stay healthy, he could fetch significant interest on the trade market. He's a flashy full-court player and still an efficient scorer and shooter.

The 6-foot-3 vet finishes up his season having barely been available for the rebuilding Jazz. In just 37 healthy bouts (nine starts), the Missouri product averaged 16.2 points on .408/.362/.797 shooting splits, 3.7 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.8 steals a night.

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