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SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Clarkson fidgeted with his left sprained ring finger.
The injury had kept him out of the final five weeks of the season, which aided Utah's slide from playoff contender into the lottery and ended Clarkson's career season on a bit of a dull note.
He managed to quickly perk up, though, with his first answer during his end-of-season media session.
"Swelling's down a lot — still crooked," Clarkson said. "Probably have to get a special size wedding ring."
Wait … what was that? Is the Utah Jazz shooting guard getting married?
"Thinking future," Clarkson said laughing as he quickly corrected himself.
It was an appropriate answer; Clarkson will have to think of his playing future, too, this offseason.
Clarkson is expected to be a free agent this summer. He has a player option with the Jazz for next season for $13.3 million, but he'll likely turn that down in lieu of a new contract that should come with a substantial pay raise.
Will that be with Utah?
Clarkson spoke highly of the team, the state and the organization. He said his four seasons with the Jazz have been "eye-opening" and that Utah is now a place he and his family consider home.
"It's just been great," Clarkson said. "All love."
That said, he doesn't know what the future holds. He's liked his time with the Jazz, but will his priorities be different now that he's on the other side of 30 years old? When he was asked that question, he couldn't hold in the laughter.
"I don't know what I'm eating tomorrow. I'm not thinking about that, honestly," he said, later adding he thinks he could play until he was 50.
Clarkson averaged 20.8 points, 4.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds in his first full-time roll as a starter since his early years in the NBA. He was asked to set teammates up and take on a leadership role in the locker room. By the season's end, Clarkson showed he was more than just a gunner off the bench.
"I was in those positions to kind of put us into plays and just figuring the games out," he said. "That was all growing for me, especially making plays for my teammates and seeing the different defenses that teams were throwing. I think in terms of that I've proved a lot to myself, too."
Clarkson admitted it was frustrating to not be in the playoffs this year, but he opted to look at the brighter side of things. With Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen and himself all limited with injuries down the stretch, it allowed players like Talen Horton-Tucker, Ochai Agbaji and Luka Samanic to have larger roles; that's something he believes will only benefit the Jazz moving forward.
"Everybody is getting valuable experience," he said. "You don't win championships by yourself, so everybody's got to be on another level when it comes to that time when we're competing and winning and playing for something."
And when it comes to chasing a championship, he believes the Jazz have a foundation in place to get back to the playoffs as soon as next season.
"I just think everybody this year really took steps super fast, and grew super fast," he said. "So I think next year we'll be back to winning ways — a chance to compete for something."
Will he be on that team? Time will tell.
