Jordan Clarkson spent two years on the same Los Angeles Lakers team that featured Kobe Bryant. Clarkson would learn a lot from the Lakers legend, and share plenty of minutes on the basketball floor with him either in practice or in games.
But even though Clarkson has since been traded away to the Cleveland Cavaliers, some of those lessons from Bryant live on.
In Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics, Clarkson threw down a tomahawk dunk in transition of a game the Cavaliers ran away with. Clarkson may have been channeling something Bryant once said about the way in which Clarkson attacked the basketball, per Slam Magazine.
“All I remember was Kob telling me that I've been going to the hole like a light-skinned dude,” Clarkson said, “so I gotta start going like dark-skinned.”
He was being asked about a dunk he threw down as a member of the Lakers. That statement prompted a lot of laughs from the media. Watch the video below.
Jordan Clarkson still using Kobe's advice. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/F1QIuWfKZE
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) February 12, 2018
It appears that while a Lakers player, Clarkson took Bryant's advice. That breakaway dunk against the Celtics definitely saw Clarkson go to the rim with authority and without hesitation. So maybe that's what Bryant meant by his “dark-skinned” comment.
As funny as that prior exchange was, it'd be difficult to believe that Clarkson actually thinks of those exact words. From covering Clarkson personally, I can say with confidence that he likes to say funny things to the media all the time.
That doesn't mean Clarkson is disingenuous. He's actually very candid. But the way he is just sometimes borders on the lines of exaggeration to get a laugh. And he does get them frequently.
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