Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson shifted into a role he was not used to in the 2016-17 season, as first-year coach Luke Walton asked him to come off the bench, something he hadn’t done since the beginning of his rookie season.
Clarkson willingly accepted the role, and the result was his most complete season on both sides of the floor. The third-year guard averaged 14.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from three-point range.
One aspect of his game that Clarkson really improved on was his ball handling, as he spent much of his second season playing shooting guard, deferring ball handling duties to D’Angelo Russell.
But Clarkson proved this past season that he could play the lead guard position, and that was never more apparent than when the Lakers played the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 1, 2016.
The Lakers lost the game 115-108, but Clarkson had one of the Lakers best highlights of the season in the third quarter when he put Pacers guard Aaron Brooks in a blender, resulting in Brooks falling to the ground and Clarkson knocking down a midrange jumper.
The NBA recently came out with their top 10 crossovers of the season, and that play came in at No. 7 on the list.
Clarkson finished that game with 15 points on 7-of-16 season, but none of them were more memorable than that crossover he had on Brooks.