After foregoing his senior year in college to enter the 2014 NBA draft, Jordan Clarkson was selected by the Washington Wizards with the No. 46 overall pick and was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first year, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, a rarity for a second round pick. Clarkson was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018 and then to the Utah Jazz in 2019. Clarkson averaged a career-high 16.8 points per game for the Cavs during the 2018-19 season, and he scored a career-best 42 points on February 13, 2019 against the Brooklyn Nets. Clarkson is Filipino-American and has dual citizenship with the Philippines and the United States. He competed with the Philippines national team at the 2018 Asian Games, where he averaged 26 points per game and led the Philippines to a fifth-place finish, its best in 16 years.

Born in Tampa, Florida but raised primarily in San Antonio, Texas, Clarkson played college basketball for two seasons with Tulsa before transferring to Missouri, where he averaged 17.5 points per game and earned Second Team All-SEC honors.