This former Missouri Tiger is now an NBA champion with the New York Knicks
Twelve seasons and four teams into his NBA career, former Missouri Tigers forward Jordan Clarkson has an NBA Championship ring.
In his first season with the New York Knicks, Clarkson appeared in four of the five games in the NBA Finals series triumph over the San Antonio Spurs that wrapped up Saturday.
“Being able to represent Missouri basketball as an NBA champion is a phenomenal accomplishment,” said Mizzou coach Dennis Gates, visiting a Missouri fan rally at Chicken N Pickle in Overland Park on Sunday. “I’m so proud of what he’s done in his career.”
Gates said when he took over the program in 2022, Clarkson was among the first former players who contacted him.
Clarkson played for Missouri during the 2013-14 season after spending his first two years at Tulsa. He averaged 17.5 points for the Tigers in his second-team All-SEC season.
He was a second-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and started his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Clarkson spent two-plus seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, before starting the most productive portion of his career with the Utah Jazz.
In Utah, Clarkson was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2021. He averaged 8.6 points for the Knicks this season and 15.3 points over his career.
Clarkson is the first former Missouri player to win an NBA title ring since Michael Porter Jr. with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
Before Porter? You’d have to go back to 1982, when Clay Johnson of Kansas City was a member of the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers.