Even while the vast majority of players are at their correct rating, there are far too many who are misunderstood. Is he really underrated, for instance, when every media outlet says so? To be truly underestimated, the general public must pay little to no attention to your accomplishments. There are always a few players who are vastly underappreciated, and it’s possible that the Utah Jazz have the NBA’s most underrated player on their squad.

Since joining the Jazz, Jordan Clarkson has averaged 17.5 points per game, won Sixth Man of the Year in 2020–2021, and remarkably improved to a career high in points (20.8), assists (4.4), and rebounds (4.0) last season. Despite this remarkable run of form with the Jazz, Clarkson has been consistently overlooked in the preseason player rankings published by several of the most prominent sports sources. The Ringer and ESPN’s yearly polls have not been released yet, but The Athletic, Bleacher Report, and CBS Sports have not ranked Clarkson either.

You have to draw the line someplace, and there will always be an argument for the guys who are right on it, but Clarkson can make a case for himself to be far away from it. Here are the finalists from the aforementioned online resources:

Williams, Grant

Payton, Gary II

Fultz, Markelle

Brown, Bruce

Caldwell-Pope, Kentavious

A. Caruso, Alex

Claxton, Nic

Clarkson was also left off of the lists of “Honorable Mentions” or players who narrowly missed the cut that were published by both The Athletic and Bleacher Report. The following is a forecast for the upcoming season. This suggests that Clarkson has been forgotten in Utah, unless it is widely anticipated that he will have a significant decline in output. Maybe the emergence of Lauri Markannen, the acquisition of John Collins, and the ascent of Walker Kessler (all players who have been listed in these rankings) have overshadowed him.

While many will credit the meteoric rise of Markannen for the Utah Jazz’s continued competitiveness relative to preseason predictions, many will overlook the enormous strides Clarkson made in his first year as a starter and as the team’s primary playmaker. As a result of the increased pressure, he improved as a facilitator (adding 4.4 assists per game) and started scoring over 20 points per game for the first time in his career. Previously, he had an average of 2.5 assists each season. Clarkson is now one of the league’s most efficient scorers because to his steady development as a player. Someone who can score with ease at any level and develop into a dominant оffensive force while playing for Will Hardy.

When Clarkson was on the court, the Jazz’s оffensive efficiency increased by 4.7 points per possession, leading to a +3.3 advantage for the team. When both Clarkson and Markkanen were on the court, the Jazz’s оffensive Rating increased to 120.7, and the team’s net rating improved by 4.8 points. Obviously, he had a significant role in the team’s success last year, and there’s no reason to think it won’t continue this year.

Last year, there were 57 players that regularly scored over 20 points per game. Only Clarkson, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Terry Rozier (included in 1 of 3), out of those 57 players, did not appear in multiple rankings. The list shrinks to 32 players, with only Clarkson and Rozier remaining unranked, if the qualifying standards are raised to include players who averaged at least 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists last season. Every NBA season features 450 players at most. There must be a good reason for me to be featured on a list of only 57 players. It doesn’t make sense to be on a list of only 32 players (representing about 7% of the league) while simultaneously failing to make it onto any of the major media outlets’ lists of the top 100 players in the league.

For the record, I do not think Clarkson is one of the NBA’s best 32 players. Among the best 57 players, I doubt I could make an argument against him. However, why does Clarkson keep being overlooked by the editorial teams of the most widely read media outlets?

The correct response is that Jordan Clarkson is the NBA’s most underappreciated player.

Keep a look out for the upcoming season’s rankings from outlets like ESPN and The Ringer. Last year, Clarkson was placed at number 104 by The Ringer, whose ranking includes the top 125 players in the league, and number 85 by ESPN.