Jordan Clarkson caps career year with Sixth Man award

Come to Mizzou, play basketball, win trophies. Haven’t we always said that?

We haven’t? Maybe we should start. The power of positivity to speak things into existence and all that.

Anyway, at least now we have some precedent to work with! After finally finding what seems to be a career-best fit in Salt Lake City, Jordan Clarkson capped arguably the best year of his professional career by winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.

Clarkson, who has played for the Los Angeles Lakers and Cavaliers in addition to the Jazz over the course of his seven-year NBA career, averaged a career-high 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes in 68 games during the 2020-21 regular season. He received 65 of the 100 first-place votes cast by the global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who vote for all of the league’s various season-long awards.

It was a unique set of circumstances for Clarkson, who helped the Jazz to the number one spot in the Western Conference this season. After all, the man who finished second in this year’s voting is none other than Joe Ingles, Clarkson’s Jazz teammate. In the ultimate show of good sportsmanship, Utah’s favorite Aussie surprised Clarkson as the one to present him the trophy.

So Jordan Clarkson is now officially a Sixth Man of the Year winner. Quin Snyder seems to be in prime position to take home the NBA Coach of the Year honors, and former Mizzou great Keyon Dooling currently works as a player development coach for the team. Perhaps Mizzou Hoops is becoming a glorified sort of finishing school for future Utah Jazz stalwarts? Check back with us in 2026 when Jeremiah Tilmon plays his way up from the G-League to win the league’s Most Improved Player award.

Speaking of MIP, stay tuned over the next few days. Another former Mizzou player is a finalist for that award, meaning the NBA awards season could be positively littered with former Tigers.

Yesterday at Rock M

• Team Missouri Running Back: Tony Temple

More Links:

• Mizzou Softball has its Super Regional date with James Madison this weekend, continuing a success story that the university needed, at least according to Dave Matter and Ben Frederickson at the Post-Dispatch. Their colleague Ben Hochman also covered the Tigers in his Monday column, which noted their fun propensity for smacking dingers.
• In a somewhat surprising move, Jarvis Ware becomes the latest Mizzou Tiger starter to enter the transfer portal after spring football’s completion. This probably tells us a little bit about where Steve Wilks is going to take this roster (and where Ware didn’t fit), but it’s still a bit of a sting to see experienced players taking off.
• It was a tough season for Mizzou Baseball and Steve Bieser, but the head coach talked about it (and the potential for improvement) with Eric Blum at the Columbia Tribune.
• After a short time with the Mizzou Football program, former Tiger wide receiver L’Damian Washington is officially kicking off his coaching career in his home state.

Best of luck, L’Damian! We’ll miss you in CoMo!

• Yaya SZN approaching

(That’s 2021 Mizzou Hoops commit Yaya Keita for the uninitiated.)

• Speaking of Mizzou Hoops, best of luck to Mama Dembele, who will represent Spain at the U19 World Championship this summer.
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