Cleveland Cavaliers: Five best bench players of the 2010’s

#4: Jordan Clarkson

Similarly to Frye, Jordan Clarkson was acquired by Cleveland in a trade deadline deal, and that was as a piece in the deal involving Frye with the Lakers in 2018.

When Clarkson’s been out there for the Cavaliers, he’s been a big-time bench bucket-getter in every sense of that phrase. I’ll admit, Clarkson’s lone postseason in 2018 was as much of a clunker as it gets.

That being said, since, I give JC so much credit for his relentless effort, even on a mostly struggling Cavs squad since LeBron signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018.

Clarkson led regular rotation Cavaliers in scoring in 2018-19 (outside of Kevin Love, who was only active in 22 games mostly due to reported toe surgery), with a career-high 16.8 points per game, according to NBA.com.

In 2019-20, Clarkson’s scoring has been a bit down with him posting 14.3 points per game with Love in the rotation more and Collin Sexton continuing to make his scoring mark in his second season, but JC still makes a considerable impact with the pressure he puts on opposing defenses.

In his career with Cleveland, Clarkson has put up 15.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 25.5 minutes per contest, according to Basketball Reference.

Clarkson, even in many instances of course last season, and even now in some stretches still, is a player that’s been able to fill it up as a reserve with limited spacing often around him.

Clarkson’s full array was on display in a triple-overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets last season, where he had a career-high 42 points, and man was that one fun to watch.

Now, Clarkson is prone to over-dribbling and still takes frustrating shots, but he can hit plenty of them, too.

Eventually I’d imagine, given trade rumors regarding Clarkson and with him being a good expiring contract trade piece it seems, that the Cavaliers will eventually deal Clarkson by the 2020 deadline. I’d be a fan of that if it can help them get a quality developmental first-round pick, feasibly from a three-team deal down the road.

He’s further proven himself to be one of the league’s best bench scorers in his time with the Cavs, though, and if Cleveland tries to keep him through the season and perhaps bring him back next offseason, I can understand why with Clarkson’s ability to fill it up as a reserve.