12 years is a long time in the NBA.

You have to be doing something right to stay in the league this long, especially with career earnings of over $150 million.

But when you’re 11 years in with only four seasons in the playoffs, four total series victories, and just one run past the second round without a championship, all of the regular success you’ve had as a player starts to feel repetitive. You sink into a playstyle that works well for teams that aren’t competing, but kills your value for good teams.

As Jordan Clarkson entered Year 12 and joined the Knicks, the playstyle that he sank into for the last half-decade followed him. It played him off the court midway through the season. He looked like a square peg in a round hole as he neared his 34th birthday.

Then, he bought in, and his revelation resulted in him finally completing the championship run he had waited his whole career to be a part of.

Clarkson was born in Tampa, Florida, on June 7, 1992, but moved to San Antonio at age 6 after his parents divorced. He attended Karen J. Wagner High School and parlayed his high school success into a scholarship at the University of Tulsa. After making the All-CUSA Freshman Team in 2011, he took his game to another gear as a sophomore, averaging 16.5 points per game and making the All-CUSA First Team.

He transferred to Missouri to get on NBA radars, but had to sit out the 2012-13 season due to old NCAA transfer rules. As a senior, he finished third in the SEC in scoring and was named to Second-Team All-SEC, but despite he and Jabari Brown being two of the most prolific scorers in the conference, the Tigers were reduced to an NIT bid.

Clarkson declared for the 2014 NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 46th pick before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for cash considerations. He started his career with their D-League affiliate, where he averaged 22.6/7.8/5.0 in five games. With the late Kobe-era Lakers in tank mode, he earned an everyday role towards the back end of the season, starting 38 games and making All-Rookie First Team, just the fifth second-round pick to ever do so.

He was a mainstay in the starting lineup over Kobe’s final season in 2015-16 before moving into a sixth man role as the Lakers added pieces like Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and D’Angelo Russell to their rebuild. He became one of the league’s top bench scorers and was rewarded handsomely with a four-year, $50 million extension, but he’d soon leave the bright lights of Hollywood for Cleveland, as the desperate Cavaliers acquired him and Larry Nance Jr. at the 2018 trade deadline to try and make one more run with LeBron James.

Down the stretch with the Cavs, he averaged 13 points a night on the best three-point shooting of his career, but he fell flat in the first playoff run of his career, and was soon doomed to more bad basketball after LeBron departed for the same Lakers team that just traded him.

Over the next 110 games over 1.5 seasons, Clarkson averaged 16 points a night as the Cavs’ sixth man, including a career-high 42 in January 2019. He was finally able to get another opportunity on a playoff team in December 2019, when the contending Utah Jazz acquired him for Dante Exum and two seconds. His scoring ticked up further, and he was able to produce two tremendous performances in Games 2 and 4 against Denver in the bubble before the Jazz lost in seven games.

2020-21 was his best season. He averaged 18.4 points and 4.0 rebounds on the most shots of his career, running away with Sixth Man of the Year over Joe Ingles and Derrick Rose (fun fact: Jalen Brunson came fourth!). He would be Donovan Mitchell’s top-producing teammate around him as they got to the second round, but the No. 1 seed fell on their faces.

After one more season of disappointment, Danny Ainge blew it up. Rudy Gobert and Spida were sold off, but Clarkson remained with the rubble of what was left. He averaged a career-high 20.8 points a night in 2022-23 as a full-time starter for the first time in seven years, but he was now a high-usage, low-value veteran on a team trying to lose games.

Sure, he was still making $15 million a year as he entered his 30s, but things were steadily declining to the point where he was withering away on a 65-loss team in 2024-25. He was mercifully waived before the final year of his contract, allowing him to search for a new home.

It just so happened that the years and years he spent on losing teams didn’t scare good teams away, as the Knicks jumped on him as soon as he cleared waivers in early July, signing him to a minimum contract to fill the role of a microwave scorer off the bench that the team had lacked since trading Immanuel Quickley in December 2023.

The fit was odd, though. You figured he probably wasn’t a fit next to Jalen Brunson, and he’s not the type to run a backup point guard role. His defensive limitations and permanent green light also didn’t fit a roster centered around its starters, and the weakness the team seemingly had with two of its stars on the defensive end. Still, they gave it a shot.

The early returns were mixed. He was playing as you’d expect offensively, averaging nine shots a game through 19 games on decent enough efficiency, mediocre three-point shooting, and rough defense. He at least showed a willingness to be more physical on that end, but often would get into foul trouble rather than get stops.

The first half of his season was defined by two performances a week apart. In the NBA Cup Final against San Antonio, he put up 15 points off the bench as he and Tyler Kolek stole the game from Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. On Christmas, he revived a team that played like zombies in the first quarter with an electric 2Q, en route to a season-high 25 points.

20 more points in the New Year’s Eve loss to the Spurs would be the final game before the descent, for both he and the team. Over the next 10 games, he shot just 36.5% from the field, averaged more turnovers than assists, and was a minus-72 as the Knicks dealt with their three weeks from hell. I pondered after the disgusting MLK Day blowout against Dallas if Mike Brown would do what Tom Thibodeau did 4 years prior in a similar circumstance to spark the team.

He did. Clarkson was benched for the team’s blowout win over the Nets, reduced to garbage time. Over the next seven games, he didn’t play a spec of leveraged basketball. He had been turned into Evan Fournier, an offensively focused veteran who had played his way out of the rotation with ineffective basketball and a bad motor. Things felt bleak.

Then injuries allowed him to get his foot back in the door. Injuries to Josh Hart and Deuce McBride got Clarkson an impromptu start against the Nuggets on February 4, where he was mostly effective in 24 minutes. When Hart returned, Clarkson returned to the doghouse most games, only sparingly playing meaningful bench minutes for the next month.

Then the Knicks went on their biannual West Coast trip. In the third quarter of a lopsided loss to the Lakers, Brown inserted Clarkson, looking for an offensive spark that never came. Three days later, he was given the rope he needed to have a vintage Clarkson performance against his old team in Salt Lake City.

From there, he was back in the rotation. Suddenly, he had found the hunger of a young player on a rookie contract. His shot selection improved. His defensive intensity amped up. He started becoming a menace on the offensive glass. The player that we have known for the last half-decade was suddenly something completely different.

He was a team player now. He understood that the way he was playing before would not only result in his benching but could lead to him being out of the league. He was being given a second chance, and he wouldn’t let it pass.

His role in the postseason depended on the game. To start the postseason, he was firmly in the rotation, but he, Jose Alvarado, and Landry Shamet all traded places around the bench totem pole as the Knicks proceeded on their run to the NBA Finals. His best minutes came in Game 1 against Atlanta, Game 3 against Philly, and Game 3 against his hometown Spurs.

It probably wasn’t how Clarkson envisioned himself being a bench piece to a championship roster a few years ago, but he was finally able to lift a Larry O’Brien Trophy after 12 long years.

The oldest player on the 2025-26 Knicks. The most experienced player on the roster. Someone who sacrificed and changed his entire playstyle to fit into the mold that a contender needed.

And now, Jordan Clarkson will forever be known as an NBA champion.

–

(P&T will be doing player-by-player article tributes over the next few weeks to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)

So much about a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo addition for the Celtics feels like a slam dunk.

Antetokounmpo embodies Boston’s need for not only a center, but Brad Stevens’ offseason mission statement of finding more impact at the rim and more dunks.

The Celtics need help at center, so why not acquire arguably the most impactful one at both ends in the entire league? There’s risk, but if there wasn’t, Boston would not be able to acquire one of the league’s best players. Period. At least not without gutting their roster. Yet the decision will still weigh heavily on the front office, and the entire fan base, as decision day nears on whether the Celtics will — or can — pull off their biggest trade ever.

That’s not an understatement. Despite a down and turbulent season where he only appeared in 36 games, Antetokounmpo just concluded a run of seven straight years where he finished top-four in MVP voting, including two wins, along with top-10 Defensive Player of the Year status. He scores close to 30 points just by showing up, reaches the free throw line 10 times every night and pressures the rim on basically ever possession. Antetokounmpo, like Kevin Garnett before him, would arrive in Boston squarely in his prime.

He’s the presence the Celtics need, and missed dearly, last season. It’s the kind of trade that could thrust them back into championship contention. And it’s an opportunity that almost never presents itself. The last former MVP to change teams was James Harden in 2021.

The last former MVP and Defensive Player of the Year to do so? Garnett.

In 2007, the Celtics had finished one of their worst seasons ever. Garnett formed a Big Three with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, allowed for by a different salary cap and Boston’s draft standing. This time, trades effectively happen dollar-for-dollar, many of them star-for-star, and despite reports of the Celtics exploring how to execute a trade without him, they’re faced with parting ways with Finals MVP Jaylen Brown coming off a career season where he saved the team with Jayson Tatum injured.

That’s a completely different prospect than trading Al Jefferson and other rotation players. For whatever resistance some fans offered at that idea nearly two decades ago, there’s much more tied to Brown, a player who’s on track to get his jersey retired and go down as one of the franchise’s all-time greats.

There’s also the case that the known commodity, the Brown-Tatum combination that could statistically go down as one of the league’s greatest winning combinations, serves as team’s best path forward. Tatum acknowledged only reaching roughly 80% of his prior form in his return from an Achilles tear. Brown plays as both his complement and a buffer against any health uncertainty for the other Celtics star.

There has also been clunkiness with two scorers turned facilitators who overlap in ball time and position. While wide speculation always assesses their personality fit, they’ve made an awkward on-court combination thrive at times to the point of a championship in 2024. The strong, veteran cast surrounding them disappeared after the 2025 repeat bid though. Unsung players following Brown and Derrick White’s lead, and later Tatum’s, won 56 games and built a 3-1 lead in the first round against Philadelphia. The meltdown that followed remains as hard to parse as the worthiness of an Antetokounmpo deal.

Yet a return to form for Giannis in Boston could leave everyone wondering why we ever debated it. It’s no knock to Brown that Antetokounmpo, on many nights, plays the best two-way basketball in the league. He mans the front court position that faltered for the Celtics in the first round, a potential counter against Joel Embiid, Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns and other star centers Boston currently doesn’t have an answer for. If committed, Tatum and Giannis could combine for one of the league’s most compelling pick-and-roll duos.

Antetokounmpo’s noted admiration for Joe Mazzulla and reported willingness to extend with the team add to the intrigue of a trade. The Celtics, according to Sam Amick, would embrace a one-for-one swap. Milwaukee understandably would want draft pick compensation. Boston only has access to one of the No. 27 pick in this draft or their first-rounder next summer, and two additional ones in 2031 and 2033. By then, it’s completely unclear what lottery rules will exist. Giannis will turn 36, Tatum, 33. A multi-team deal could allow another team, most intriguingly Portland with its future Bucks picks, to compensate Milwaukee in exchange for acquiring Brown. Nothing has clicked, whether due to increased protectiveness over picks or less value being available for Brown than anticipated.

Yet despite all that, and the obvious sensitivity over another summer that Brown spends hearing his name in trade rumors, the Celtics haven’t said or floated that they’ve moved on from talks or that Jaylen is definitely staying. Perhaps that’s due to the limited market that emerged for Antetokounmpo, namely a Herro-led Heat trade that hasn’t successfully secured the star for Miami with two days left until the draft. The Heat continue to act with the desperation that leads most analysts and reporters to predict that he’ll land there, but an increasing price for the Heat will limit their ability to contend for a championship following a trade. That’s still the Celtics’ advantage in a Brown-for-Giannis swap. Tatum, White and the rest of the team’s depth would remain.

Naturally, play style questions would persist beyond a trade. Antetokounmpo, despite his center-like role on offense, dominated the ball in Milwaukee, facing-up, driving and drawing defenders to initiate the Bucks’ offense. Tatum and Antetokounmpo would both need to sacrifice on offense. The potential of a Damian Lillard-Antetokounmpo tandem in Milwaukee never panned out, and they rarely executed screen-and-rolls. It devolved, instead, into my-turn, your-turn. Jim Owczarski, a Bucks beat reporter, compared Tatum-Antetokounmpo to Khris Middleton-Antetokounmpo, rather than the Lillard letdown and Tatum is a far superior player to even prime Middleton.

The potential advantages for both are obvious. More pressure on the rim for Tatum to score from the perimeter. And fewer bodies and wall-building in front of Giannis with so many threats on the perimeter. Defensively, Antetokounmpo doesn’t reach the Defensive Player of the Year form from earlier in his career as often, and he sparingly played center on that end with the Bucks, so the Celtics still have some front court questions to solve there. Neemias Queta, for all his success in 2025-26, doesn’t space the floor like Brook Lopez and Myles Turner did in Milwaukee next to Antetokounmpo. Luka Garza showed some success in that role, but not at high volume.

Then, there’s the money — four-years, $275 million for Antetokounmpo due on Oct. 1. If the Celtics have interest in acquiring him, they’re inevitably prepared to pay that, albeit with gritted teeth after an injury-plagued season for the star and terrifying calf injuries to finish two of his past three seasons. While the bigger picture concerns over his availability probably became overblown, a freak fall doomed him to end 2023 and debate existed over his late-season availability this year, it’s a consideration given the physical nature of his game. Trading Brown for Antetokounmpo, just for Giannis to decline physically, would become an all-time blunder for the franchise.

To again compare to Garnett, the trade thrived in year one, continued into 2009, then a knee injury left Garnett diminished from his previous form, albeit still flashing effectiveness late into his Celtics tenure. Nobody lamented that deal despite it only leading to one championship. In this parity era, another banner would suffice here, too. And that’s the question, for all the sanctimony surrounding Brown and Tatum, that the Celtics need to ask themselves as a decision looms over whether to make this deal.

Neither the Heat nor Milwaukee should serve as considerations in it. Both will prove too diminished, even with Antetokounmpo, to threaten even the current version of the Celtics in the East. That’s no reason to veer from what they’re doing, and despite the agonizing finish to 2025-26, many successes happened along the way developmentally, for Brown on the way to his best season and for Tatum, who got back on his feet and resembled himself quicker than maybe anyone who’s ever torn their Achilles in the NBA.

All that matters and proves worthy of another look in full after an awkward re-integration for Tatum into a team and style that Boston played all year. The emergence of young and unsung Celtics still matters too, both for them and new ones who will join the picture this summer. Boston quietly became draft-and-develop stars in recent years, even if some of those players didn’t immediately translate to playoff success against Philadelphia.

But that loss matters, too. The playoffs are a different game, and for whatever reason the Celtics didn’t trust or utilize their depth attack effectively enough in the Philadelphia series — their strength all year. Tatum and Brown devolved into their worst tendencies, and despite having relatively full health outside of Tatum all year and entering the playoffs as the second seed, then building a 3-1 series lead, the 2026 group ultimately faltered.

Brown’s continued commitment to Boston matters too, and fittingly, he and the team can both assess their intentions ahead of his extension-eligibility in July. Brown should rightfully expect to receive his two-year max like any franchise cornerstone would. It’s unclear how the Celtics feel about extending him beyond the three years, $183 million he’s already committed to, when Brown is eligible for two more years at roughly $140 million. Inevitably, it’s not a massive cap difference between extending Brown and Antetokounmpo, with a two-year age difference. Despite obvious frustrations he expressed following the season, I’m not going to read into what Brown wants long-term for his career. He said on his stream that he’d like to spend the next ten years in Boston if he had his way. The Celtics and he need to determine if they can make that happen.

There’s no wrong answer here, until hindsight tells us later. With Antetokounmpo and Tatum, the Celtics would have two top-10 players who on many nights and even weeks at a time can perform like the best player in the league. Antetokounmpo is an MVP, a status that Tatum and Brown have bordered on, but have been unable to reach. Then again, Brown and Tatum have kept the Celtics in the mix for a championship every year, aside from 2021, since early in their careers. Brad Stevens has long held onto that fact as GM, that if they have those two, they have a chance. Will that remain the case this summer? We’re about to find out.

“He has not expressed those frustrations to me,” Stevens said after the season. “We’ve been here 10 years together and I do think, obviously, I love JB, and everybody around here loves JB.”