The Utah Jazz and Jordan Clarkson finalized a contract buyout, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania. The Buyout will free up Clarkson to sign with a new team in free agency, and the Knicks should absolutely be among the teams to reach out to the veteran guard.
Clarkson joins a growing list of free-agent guards, a position that the Knicks desperately need to add depth in. While he isn't the same player who once won the league's Sixth Man of the Year award, Clarkson still has some offensive juice left in the tank and could certainly provide the Knicks with some much-needed depth.
He is a volume shooter, an area the Knicks need to improve, after finishing last year ranked 27th in 3-point volume. And while he unquestionably has holes in his game, the Knicks aren't in a position to be too picky about where their depth will come from.
They have a $5.7 million trade exception but will then have to turn to veteran minimums to fill out their roster in what is ultimately a weak free agent class. Clarkson certainly checks some boxes and is worth exploring once free agency begins.
Clarkson would provide offensive depth
Last season, Clarkson averaged 16.2 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game. While he hasn't been the most efficient player over the course of his career, he did shoot 36.2 percent from three on 6.3 3-point attempts per game. It was his best shooting season from deep since 2019-20.
Clarkson is also able to get his own shot off the dribble, a valuable trait for a guard. Last year, he shot 35.5 percent from three on 3-pointers that came off of at least two dribbles.
There are holes in his game, however. He is not a strong defender; last year, he ranked in only the 16th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus. He has also lost a step in terms of getting downhill to the rim. He only had 57 field goal attempts at the rim last season, according to league tracking data, his lowest in the previous three seasons.
Other options beyond Clarkson include Ty Jerome, Luke Kennard, Tyus Jones, and Dennis Schroder. As I mentioned above, the Knicks' cap sheet is tight, and some of those players may simply be too expensive for them to compete. They could also look to acquire a guard via trade, or hope that second-year player Tyler Kolek is up for the task to be the team's main backup.