Cavs: Jordan Clarkson wanting to stick around sends right message

Jordan Clarkson has been outstanding this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he reportedly wants to stick around for the long haul, which is at least good to hear from a fan’s perspective.

Even though the Cleveland Cavaliers have played much better after the All-Star break, they still have a long way to go as far as being a contender to make the postseason. Nonetheless, one of the team’s best players this year, and potentially for next season in Jordan Clarkson seems to be very optimistic as far as what this team can become if they continue to improve, and he reportedly wants to stick around to see the rebuild through.

According to Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal (and h/t Cavaliers Nation’s Jonathan Sherman), Clarkson wants to work through this rebuilding process, and that’s encouraging to hear, considering Cleveland will continue to have growing pains to endure in the next few seasons.

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Here’s what he said (again, per Ridenour).

"“On Wednesday night, Jordan Clarkson said he wanted to be here and ‘be part of what’s going on’ even though 2019-20 will be the final year of his contract.”"

I still can’t fault Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman if he eventually does choose to trade Clarkson before the 2020 NBA trade deadline, given that Clarkson could realistically warrant a first-round pick, with his ability to fill it up for any team’s bench unit, but it’s still nice to know that a player who has been on a struggling team believes they can turn it around in the coming years.

On the season coming into Cleveland’s game today against the Milwaukee Bucks, Clarkson has shown out while leading Cleveland in scoring (other than Kevin Love, who’s only appeared in 18 games), while posting 17.0 points per game on 54.0 percent true shooting, per NBA.com.

Due to his consistency night-to-night and ability to carry the Cleveland Cavaliers’ second unit, Clarkson broke Campy Russell’s franchise record for bench points in a single-season in the Cavs’ game Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers (courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio), and nearly won the game at the buzzer, but his three-point shot went in and out.

He’s proven to be a player Cleveland can go to in clutch situations to make a play on a number of occasions, which I would not have thought to be the case earlier in the season, and his decision-making (especially in the pick-and-roll) has improved.

While Clarkson is a player who will probably always command a high usage rate, and I don’t love on the floor much with Collin Sexton, him showing interest in being around for the long haul at least projects the right message to the organization and to his teammates that he wants to keep building into a winner with them.

The 26-year-old Clarkson has shown throughout this season and recently that he’s a player that younger pieces such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic can look up to. I still believe the Cleveland Cavaliers will ultimately trade him next year, but if they eventually want to keep him around as a dependable scorer and veteran presence, I totally understand that.