The Utah Jazz and guard Jordan Clarkson have agreed to a contract buyout, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
On Monday afternoon, Charania confirmed a report from the Deseret News: Clarkson is likely to sign with the New York Knicks once he clears league waivers. Theoretically, any team with the cap space to pick up Clarkson’s contract could choose to pick it up, but that is unlikely to happen given Clarkson’s $14.3 million salary for next season.
Clarkson spent six seasons in a Jazz uniform, the longest stop of his career, which also made him the longest-tenured current Jazz player.
After arriving in Utah in a trade that sent Dante Exum to Cleveland, Clarkson became a key cog for the competitive playoff teams at the turn of the decade under then-head coach Quin Snyder.
In 2020-21, Clarkson was named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year, with teammate Joe Ingles finishing in second place. Clarkson also achieved the team’s only triple-double in over a decade on Jan. 1, 2024. In the end, he averaged 17.5 points in 28 minutes per game in a Jazz uniform, most of which came off the bench.
Jazz second-year guard Isaiah Collier talked about Clarkson’s departure after Monday’s practice. “We already talked this morning. I mean, that was my vet,” Collier said. “Definitely sad to see him go, for sure. But you know we’re in the business of basketball where things like this happen.”
In New York, though, Clarkson looks likely to help a talented Knicks squad that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Johnny Juzang waived, Svi Mykhailiuk guaranteed
The Jazz also waived third-year guard Johnny Juzang on Monday.
Juzang, who had a non-guaranteed contract so long as he was waived by June 30, scored 7.9 points per game in 102 games in his Jazz career thanks to 36% 3-point shooting. The Jazz first signed Juzang to a two-way contract after he went unselected in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Meanwhile, Svi Mykhailiuk was not waived, meaning his 2025-26 salary of $3.6 million dollars will be fully guaranteed.
This story will be updated.
