As time ticked toward the end of the Utah Jazz’s disappointing 2023-24 season, you could tell: Jordan Clarkson had given a lot of thought to the possibility that he’s already played his last game in a Jazz uniform.
“Tomorrow’s tomorrow, I don’t really try to look too far forward,” he said in the final days of the campaign. “But I love this organization, I love this state, city. I love playing for this team, [head coach Will Hardy] and everybody. If it’s the last, that just is what it is.”
Clarkson will turn 32 this summer, making him the oldest Jazz player left on the roster by two years. He’s also the longest-tenured player on the team by three years, the only player left who played in the Donovan Mitchell/Rudy Gobert era. As a result — and, of course, due to the scoring binges that turned him into one of the NBA’s most dangerous sixth men — the San Antonio native might be the most beloved player by the Jazz fanbase right now.