How Jordan Clarkson helped Keyonte George find value during injury
NEW ORLEANS — Becoming sidelined by injury in the NBA can be an isolating experience.
Even if injured players are able to do light work without contact, they are often relegated to watching their team practice from a distance. They aren’t able to go through shootaround, they can feel like it’s not their place to speak up during film sessions and they arrive to the arena in street clothes, where they sit at the end of the bench, away from the action.
Fortunately for Utah Jazz rookie Keyonte George, he wasn’t alone throughout his first NBA injury.
George was sidelined for six games due to a left foot injury, and while he was resting and rehabbing, he was with Jordan Clarkson, who was nursing a hamstring strain. Clarkson was intent on being a good veteran in that situation and made sure to keep George engaged.
“He was just giving me knowledge throughout each and every game and every day,” George said. “Just little snippets of what he’s seeing on the floor so we can use it when we’re back to normal.
“It was a blessing in disguise for me. Of course nobody likes being hurt or wants anyone else hurt, but I was able to learn at a high level.”
It wasn’t just the conversations during games that helped George. The rookie said there were moments when he would feel like it maybe wasn’t his place to speak up and Clarkson made him feel like his voice and what he had to say mattered.
Clarkson was with George during treatment and rehab and would stay with him throughout shootaround and practice and keep the both of them involved in conversations with the rest of the team.
“He watches a lot of the game and studies a lot so it’s easy to talk basketball with him,” Clarkson said. “I was just trying to work out with him and get shots up and give him little things. Just trying to be a good vet and help him.”
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Though it might have been a simple gesture from Clarkson, who is in his 10th NBA season, it was an important time for George, who is in just the third month of his NBA career.
“When have guys around you that are older than you, that are willing to listen, it makes life easy for a young guy,” George said. “I feel like I know the game, I feel like I prepare myself each and every day, so I mean, I feel like what I have to say is valuable and the guys, they would listen.
“I was engaged with the game even though I could have just been on the bench just enjoying my time, but I enjoy being engaged.”
Jazz head coach Will Hardy also saw the situation as a blessing considering the circumstances, though he is hopeful that when George has to go through those moments alone in the future, he remembers these lessons and is able to stay mentally engaged.
“The NBA is always humbling,” Hardy said. “Coaches and players, we all probably think we’re more important than we are, and I think sometimes for players in those moments when you get injured, you realize that the league keeps going the team keeps going and it kind of puts things in perspective for you.”
For George, he was able to see spots that he could help the team. He watched the game from a different angle and knows he might have to work a little harder to carve out his role, but he’s willing to put in the work.
George said he noticed how the team feels and the vibe around them when they are playing the right way and how that can change quickly.
“Nobody wants to go out here and have a losing season,” George said. “We have to continue to go out here and put it on for the name that we have on the front of our jerseys and also understand that we’ve got to play with pride for the name on the back.
It’s been a great environment, all high vibes. We’ve just got to keep it rolling.”
