LOS ANGELES_The worst-kept secret in the NBA is that Jordan Clarkson is available for teams that want to trade for him.
He was part of conversations with Indiana when the Los Angeles Lakers attempted to acquire Paul George this summer, and the Indian Pacers went instead with a trade to Oklahoma City that netted them Victor Oladipo and Domatas Sabonis.
So Friday night when the Lakers played the Pacers for the first time this season, with the trade deadline less than a month away, you'd forgive Clarkson for having a little extra motivation.
"Nah, I'm just hooping to be honest with you," Clarkson said. "If I'm here, I'm gonna help them win games. Impact how I can. If I'm not, it is what it is."
Clarkson scored a season-high 33 points Friday, leading the Lakers to a 99-86 win. He also added seven rebounds and seven assists, a performance that led his coach to suggest it was a game in which Clarkson wasn't thinking about scoring. The Lakers won with defense, holding the Pacers to just two of 25 on three-pointers and 38.1 percent shooting overall.
They won despite making only two of 14 free throws _ both by Clarkson.
"I try to talk to him a lot," Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. " ... Not just him, everyone. The message is always the same. ... If you get traded you get traded. We don't coach as if you're not going to be here. This is our group. This is who we try to coach.
"It's not always easy but he's continued even with the little bit of a shooting slump he's been in, he keeps coming, getting shots up with coach (Jesse) Mermuys. Had a huge Dallas game for us obviously. Tonight we don't win that game without the way he played."
In the past nine games, Clarkson has only shot better than 40 percent three times. In Dallas he made nine of 18 shots and against the Pacers he made 14-of-19.
Clarkson's performance came at a time when the Lakers desperately needed it. They played without three starters _ Lonzo Ball (knee), Brandon Ingram (ankle) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Achilles). They started Corey Brewer, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle, Josh Hart and Tyler Ennis.
Randle added 14 points while Kuzma scored 13.
Victor Oladipo, whom the Pacers acquired when they traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder, led the Pacers with 25 points.
Walton's message to the team was that they would have to win the game through defense.
"I hope the lessons learned tonight are all about how important defense is," Walton said.
"Closed the floor," Clarkson said. "We knew they were going to run a lot through Victor so we just closed the floor tried to force turnovers and get out in transition."
Clarkson was as big a part of that as any player. Coming off the bench, he gave the Lakers the spark they needed after a brutal road trip beat them up.
"Just knowing that everybody kind of, we kind of banged up," Clarkson said. "We didn't have all our main guys. I had to step up. I knew what I had to do."
