Jordan Clarkson has been racking up DNPs ever since the New York Knicks returned from the All-Star break. This represents a nadir for the 32-year-old, who has gone from seeing his role shrink to altogether vanishing without more than the faintest possibility of returning. He has the Chicago Bulls to thank.
Or rather, to blame.
Sure, Jose Alvarado injecting heart and soul and chaos into the Knicks rotation is the development that’s most responsible for burying Clarkson on the depth chart. Everyone knew he’d significantly eat into the backcourt-minutes share, particularly while Deuce McBride recovers from core-muscle surgery. Few people, though, could have envisioned Alvarado closing even a single solitary game over Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Mitchell Robinson.
At the same time, New York would not have Alvarado at its disposal without Chicago. As Jake Fischer recently confirmed for the The Stein Line, the Knicks were only able to move Guerschon Yabusele if he declined his $5.7 million, which he only said he’d do if they found a team that promised to play him.
The Bulls stepped up, and became that team. After sending Nikola Vucevic to the Boston Celtics, they needed another frontcourt body. Shipping Dalen Terry’s expiring deal to New York for Yabusele allowed the Knicks front office to swing a trade they’d pursued for a while, and is already having a profound impact on their season. By facilitating that order of operations, Chicago also aided and abetted Clarkson’s removal from New York’s rotation—a near-total exile that wouldn’t otherwise seem so final.
Jordan Clarkson’s role was already shrinking, but…
…not to this extreme.
Clearing the 20-minute threshold became a chore for Clarkson before Alvarado’s arrival. But even with McBride and Landry Shamet available, he wasn’t rattling off three consecutive coaching-decision DNPs.
Skip ahead to now, and he’s become an afterthought in Mike Brown’s rotation. That is saying something under the circumstances. Shamet being healthy changes the calculus, especially with Alvarado in the fold. But McBride remains out, and Tyler Kolek is tallying “DNP - CD” after “DNP - CD” himself. If Clarkson can’t scrounge up minutes now, how is he supposed to once McBride comes back?
Hitting more shots would be a good start. Clarkson’s sub-34-percent clip from three isn’t an outlier relative to his career, and his 51.6 percent conversion rate on twos is his highest since 2022-23. Still, his efficiency has fallen further since the start of the New Year, and he’s got one of the team’s three worst on-off splits.
The Knicks' need for Clarkson is at an irreversible low low
More than anything, meeting previous expectations doesn’t jibe with the Knicks’ aspirations. If you are an offense-fist player, the bar for elevating this team is high. With the exception of a few moments scattered throughout the first half of the year, Clarkson’s offense isn’t rising to the occasion.
That is an insurmountable obstacle for the 12-year vet. If he is not elevating the scoring attack as a complementary shooter or secondary self-starter, he’s unlikely to nudge the needle in the right direction anywhere else. He isn’t a value add on defense. He isn’t a floor organizer capable of running the offense, or even just ensuring someone like Karl-Anthony Towns remains involved.
None of this is an indictment of Clarkson, per se. The strengths and weaknesses of his game are well-known, and he’s on a minimum contract for a reason. Someone like him is always at risk of seeing his minutes and role fluctuate.
Mere weeks ago, however, you could envision a scenario in which New York would need him to do more, borne out of either pure necessity, or experimentation. That possibility is no longer as easy to imagineer, because of the Knicks landing Alvarado—and because of the Bulls making it happen.