Jordan Clarkson First Jazz Player to Win Sixth Man Award
Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year on Monday night, edging out teammate Joe Ingles and New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose for the award.
With the unique circumstances of both Clarkson and Ingles being among the finalists for the award, TNT used Ingles to help give his teammate the award. After going through a couple of trivia questions about the history of the award, host Ernie Johnson asked them both how many members of the Jazz had won the award before.
Clarkson said zero -- while Ingles, who knew this year's results, held up his index finger and then grabbed the trophy, handing it to a stunned Clarkson as he accepted the 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.
Clarkson's 407 points put him significantly ahead of Ingles, who had 34 first-place votes and 272 total points. Rose had the remaining first-place vote and finished with 77 total points, slightly ahead of Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson (67 points) in fourth.
Utah, meanwhile, will try to even its first-round series with Memphis on Wednesday night, after the top-seeded Jazz lost at home to the eighth-seeded Grizzlies on Sunday night in a game Donovan Mitchell missed after the team's doctors held him out because of a sprained ankle.
Jordan Clarkson's accolade, though, is just a testament to the depth of Utah's line-up. According to Clarkson, the team is undeterred in its chase for a different trophy -- the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy -- over the next couple of months.
