One of the most consistent players for the Los Angeles Lakers over the past two years has been Jordan Clarkson. The Missouri product has proved all his doubters wrong since the Lakers took a chance on him in the 2014 NBA Draft, but he has struggled as of late.
After three consecutive poor shooting performances, Clarkson talked about his recent slump following Lakers practice on Wednesday. Clarkson acknowledges his shooting woes and believes he’ll be able to bounce back:
“I guess I’m just missing shots right now,” Clarkson said after practice. “I just got to keep shooting, though. I’m going to come out of it; I’m going to make shots. A lot of it is shot choices. I feel like I’ve been shooting some bad shots these last games. It’s something I’ve just got to look at and try to find some easy ones.”
Over the course of the last three games, Clarkson has shot 29.5 percent from the floor during that span going 13-for-44 from the field. Although Clarkson has improved his three-point shooting this season, the second-year guard has only hit 2-of-17 from beyond the arc in the past three games.
In 65 games this season, Clarkson is averaging 15.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest. The former second-round pick has improved his scoring and rebounding as well as his outside shooting in comparison to his rookie season.
Last year, Clarkson averaged 11.9 points per game while shooting 31.4 percent from deep. In his sophomore campaign, the 23-year-old has bumped up his outside shooting to 35.5 percent and is averaging almost four more points a game.
Clarkson currently sits behind Kobe Bryant (16.8) and ahead of Lou Williams (15.4) and D’Angelo Russell (13.4) on the team’s list of leading scorers this season.