After the Utah Jazz drafted Walter Clayton Jr., it only became more evident that Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson were on the way out. Well, it didn't take long for the former to find a new team, as the Jazz traded him for a bag of chips named Jusuf Nurkic. Because that was the return for Sexton, it only shows Clarkson has no trade value to the point that Utah might simply waive him.
Comparing the two of them, Sexton is more efficient at the one thing Clarkson is good at, he's a better shooter, he's younger, averaged more assists, has more room to grow, and is talented enough to raise a team's ceiling. In Charlotte, he has the perfect opportunity to show what he could do on a team with playoff aspirations.
So with all of that in mind, Sexton's value was so low that the Jazz had to attach an asset to get Jusuf Nurkic, who is solid (maybe?), but he's aging and a backup center at this stage of his career. If that is what Sexton fetched back, Clarkson's is only worse.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen outlined what Clarkson's value currently looks like despite being on an expiring deal.
The Jazz would like to trade Jordan Clarkson but there is next to no interest on the trade market right now. Simply has not had a very good last two seasons and is on the wrong side of the age curve. https://t.co/p6KR5SAm7G
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 30, 2025
It only gets worse. Larsen floated the idea that because of what Utah had to do trade Sexton, Clarkson is so untradable right now that the Jazz's best option might be to waive him.
If today's trade is any guide, maybe... and then at that point, you might as well buy him out and let him continue his NBA career on another team https://t.co/NNWCYbjZFe
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 30, 2025
Because getting an asset for Sexton wasn't in the cards, it's fair to suggest that, despite being paid less, it would be even worse with Clarkson. The best-case scenario for him might be for him to be a throw-in in a trade, but that's even more difficult to picture happening.
Extending Clarkson looks much worse
The Jazz extending Clarkson in 2023 was hard to justify then, and it's been pointed out for ages. the Sexton trade only further proves it was the biggest mistake Utah has made since 2022. They thought either a contender would want Clarkson down the line or he'd be a fixture on their next playoff team, but neither happened.
It's not that Clarkson has declined big time or anything. It's that teams simply don't want to pay players like him that much. Scoring guards with major defensive shortcomings are not hard to find in the NBA, so there's not much value in a guy like Clarkson these days. Plus, that's too much money to commit to a cap sheet in an environment where teams want to save money now more than ever.
Teams have certainly made bigger mistakes in that same time frame, and it's not like it's been a huge problem for the Jazz. It's just that this was an avoidable mistake on Utah's part, and it will certainly rear its ugly head if it all ends in a buyout.