Jordan Clarkson breaks the triple-double drought in Utah and does it in style

Despite the Utah Jazz leading the Dallas Mavericks by as many as 39 points, the Delta Center was packed through the final minutes on Monday night as fans hoped to watch history.

Those who decided to see this one through to the end saw a nearly 16-year drought come to an end as Jordan Clarkson became the first Jazz player since Carlos Boozer on Feb. 13, 2008 to record a triple-double in the regular season (Ricky Rubio did it in the playoffs in 2018).

With 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, the Jazz’s longest tenured player earned his first career triple-double and became just the 38th player to record one coming off the bench.

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“It meant a lot, honestly” Clarkson said of being able to break the triple-double skid. “Seeing all the teams and guys (that have been here), it’s crazy. I played with Carlos Boozer, and it was his old record and it just felt good. This was a very cool little milestone to put on my list.”

In perfect Jordan Clarkson fashion, his triple-double included some of the flashiest plays of the season for the Jazz.

In the second quarter, on a fast break, Clarkson tossed a no-look pass to Kris Dunn for a transition dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.

But that wasn’t the last time that Clarkson completed a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass on Monday night, because he did it again in the third quarter when he dished out to Lauri Markkanen at the 3-point line.

Though many have considered Clarkson a scorer and much less a facilitator throughout his 10-year career, he’s changed his game multiple times under multiple head coaches now with the Jazz.

He’s gone from Sixth Man of the Year to full time starter and now is back to being the first player off the bench again for the Jazz.

In addition to being the longest-tenured player on the roster and one of the fan favorites, he’s arguably the player that has had to adapt his game the most, and for all of those reasons, his coaches and teammates said he is the player that deserved to break the drought.

“If I could have picked somebody on our team right now to break the streak, it would have been Jordan,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said.

“With the assists and the rebounds, I mean, it shows that he’s adapted to our group. He’s adapted to a new role and that he’s really trying to expand how he contributes to winning.”

The points and the assists all came pretty easily for Clarkson within the flow of the game but the final couple of rebounds were harder to come by.

Hardy left Clarkson in the game past when he normally would have and told him to get a rebound then call a timeout immediately so the coach could get him out.

“All the way up to that last rebound I had I was a little nervous,” Clarkson said.

But the rest of the players boxed out around him and let him fly in to catch a rebound that broke a drought that lasted through 14 NBA seasons, four coaches and multiple All-Stars.