After his fruitful stint with Gilas Pilipinas, Jordan Clarkson might have a new address and join a team that drafted him — the Los Angeles Lakers.
Trade rumors have it that the 30-year-old swingman will be returning to Hollywood following the revamp being done by the Utah Jazz heading into the 2022-2023 season of the National Basketball Association.
Clarkson is said to be included in a blockbuster deal that will ship Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic to the Lakers in exchange for Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, the 2027 first-round pick and two second-round choices.
League sideliners claim that the Lakers have shown interest, except that they want to preserve cap space for next summer in preparation for the availability of marquee free agents.
Bogdanovic will see his contract lapse at the end of the upcoming season while Clarkson and Conley’s deals will expire in 2024.
“The Lakers have some interest, I’m told, in the Jazz vets who could be traded (Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and Bogdan Bogdanovic),” Jeff Zillgitt, the beat writer of USA Today, tweeted.
“But the Lakers also want to preserve cap space for next summer and aren’t that interested in taking contracts beyond 2022-2023. Bogdanovic on expiring.”
Clarkson’s possible return to the Lakers makes a lot of sense.
Aside from reuniting with the team that drafted him with the 46th pick in 2014 and his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James, Clarkson also has a massive fan base in the Filipino community in Los Angeles after seeing action for Gilas Pilipinas in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers last week.
He also vowed to banner the Filipinos in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup that the Philippines will co-host with Indonesia and Japan from 25 August to 10 September.
Clarkson is clueless on where he is heading.
“Where am I supposed to be?” the Filipino-American star tweeted shortly after arriving in the United States following a two-week tour of duty for Gilas Pilipinas.
Prior to rumors linking Clarkson to the Lakers, the Jazz are on a fire sale as they let go of their core in preparation for a major rebuild.
Utah already sent French center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves while rotation player Royce O’Neal landed on the Brooklyn Nets and All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
