Jordan Clarkson has played more than 750 games, logged just short of 21,000 minutes and scored a whole lot of buckets. Very few players who enter this prestigious club stay for a decade. Even fewer can do it the way Clarkson has.<\/p>\n
With that many miles logged, memories have come and gone for the 33-year-old longtime bench scorer. You\u2019d think a player would remember everything about their first points, right? Their best dunk? Game-winning shots? Yet, at a point for some players, all of these events tend to blend and, at times, are hard to recall on the fly.<\/p>\n
So, how much does Clarkson remember about his career? I wanted to find out. Late last week, Clarkson, now on his fourth team as he enters his 12th NBA season, agreed to take the pop quiz, a fun feature I\u2019ve been doing throughout my nine years covering the NBA. The questions ranged from career milestones to coaches over the years, career-high marks and more.<\/p>\n
This right here is the ultimate test, one that provokes a trip down memory lane, allows fans to learn more about a player, provides humor and, well, is a good icebreaker.<\/p>\n
Enjoy.<\/p>\n
(Writer\u2019s note: This has been edited for clarity.)<\/p>\n
Who was your first NBA start against (Clarkson began his career playing for the Los Angeles Lakers)? <\/p>\n
(Answer: San Antonio Spurs)<\/p>\n
Oooh \u2026 San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n
Yep. Easy. What do you remember about that day? Do you remember how you found out you were going to start?<\/p>\n
I want to say it was at shootaround. Kobe (Bryant) might have been out. I don\u2019t think Kobe played that night.<\/p>\n
Your first NBA basket was a 3. Do you remember who it was against and who passed you the ball? <\/p>\n
(Answers: Houston Rockets and Ronnie Price)<\/p>\n
Was it the Clippers?<\/p>\n
Nope. Right conference, though.<\/p>\n
Was it the Pelicans?<\/p>\n
Nope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t remember. Who was it?<\/p>\n
It was Houston.<\/p>\n
It was Houston?<\/p>\n
Yes, first game of the year.<\/p>\n
Dammnnnnnnnnnnn \u2026<\/p>\n
Do you remember who passed it?<\/p>\n
Was it Jeremy Lin?<\/p>\n
Nope. Older player.<\/p>\n
Was it Carlos Boozer? No, wait, was it Ronnie Price?<\/p>\n
Got it. Do you remember anything about that first basket? Was there an \u201cI scored my first points\u201d moment?<\/p>\n
Nah, bro. I don\u2019t really remember it. I may have celebrated a little bit.<\/p>\n
Can you name every coach that you\u2019ve played for in order? <\/p>\n
(Answer: Byron Scott, Luke Walton, Tyronn Lue, Larry Drew, Quin Snyder, Will Hardy and Mike Brown)<\/p>\n
Byron Scott \u2026 Luke Walton \u2026 Tyronn Lue \u2026 Larry Drew \u2026 Quin Snyder \u2026 Will Hardy and, now, Mike Brown.<\/p>\n
You got it. Do you have a favorite coach throughout that time or just one you really got along with on a personal level?<\/p>\n
Oooh \u2026 nah, I don\u2019t have a favorite. Quin was my guy. Will, too. And Luke. S\u2014, all of them were cool.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve scored 40-plus points four times in your career. Can you name all the teams you did it against? <\/p>\n
(Answer: Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers)<\/p>\n
Sacramento is the only I remember. Who were the rest?<\/p>\n
That was the first time you scored 40. Let me help you: two in the East and one in the West.<\/p>\n
I really can\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n
It was the Nets, Warriors and 76ers.<\/p>\n
Nets, Warriors and 76ers? Damn.<\/p>\n
Was the Kings one your favorite? Why is that the only one you remember?<\/p>\n
I just remember that game. I think I was about to break a record for most points off the bench in under 25 minutes. They told me during the game. Everyone was telling me to keep shooting. I was passing and trying to win the game.<\/p>\n
You hit a game-winning floater when playing for the Lakers to beat Philadelphia in overtime. Who passed you the ball, and who on the 76ers almost blocked it? <\/p>\n
(Answers: Wayne Ellington and Ish Smith)<\/p>\n
Was it Wayne Ellington who passed it?<\/p>\n
Yep. Got it.<\/p>\n
Who almost blocked it \u2026 I don\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n
It was Ish Smith.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. It was Ish. He got up there.<\/p>\n
What I found funny when watching the shot back, you guys really didn\u2019t celebrate. You stared a little, but there wasn\u2019t as much celebration as you\u2019d normally see from a team who won, essentially, at the buzzer. Why was that? I know that was the really, really bad 76ers team.<\/p>\n
We really didn\u2019t celebrate, haha. Low-key, it might have been because it was against the bad Philly team, and it went to OT. For me, it was lit. That was my rookie year, right?<\/p>\n
Yeah, it was your rookie season.<\/p>\n
Your most notable dunk, in my opinion, came when you were in Utah and playing against the Timberwolves. Which two players did you dunk on? <\/p>\n
(Answers: Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels)<\/p>\n
It was Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Do you think that is your best dunk in the NBA?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s tough, but the one against Toronto might have been better.<\/p>\n
I thought about asking you to take me back to that one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yeah, that was a good one. I don\u2019t remember who I dunked on.<\/p>\n
Last one. Thanks again for doing this. You won the NBA\u2019s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2021. Who won it before and after you? <\/p>\n
(Answers: Montrezl Harrell and Tyler Herro)<\/p>\n
Damn \u2026 I want to say Tyler. Herro won after, right?<\/p>\n
Yep.<\/p>\n
The year before, it was \u2026 Montrezl Harrell?<\/p>\n
You got it. What\u2019s that award mean to you?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just validation around the league. It shows my abilities and the love from my peers and coaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Clarkson has played more than 750 games, logged just short of 21,000 minutes and scored a whole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,1666,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-209839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york-knicks","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}