The stars aligned for Jordan Clarkson as he cemented himself in Utah Jazz history

There have been over 1,200 regular-season triple-doubles in the NBA since Feb. 13, 2008.

The number of triple-doubles, variety of players who have logged them and the number of All-Stars the Utah Jazz have fielded over the last 15 years would lead you to believe that the Jazz must have at least had one during the regular season.

Nope.

For 15 years, the Jazz were left thirsting in a triple-double drought. Deron Williams, Gordon Hayward, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were unable to reach the milestone, and though others had come close, the drought dragged on through the end of 2023.

Then, on Jan. 1, 2024, Jordan Clarkson played brilliantly to create the perfect storm that ended that drought. With 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a 127-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks, Clarkson logged his first career triple-double, and ended what seemed like a triple-double curse in Utah.

Of course it was Jordan Clarkson

It had to be him.

“If I could have picked somebody on our team right now to break the streak, it would have been Jordan,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

Clarkson is the Jazz’s longest-tenured player and final player remaining who played under the previous coaching regime.

He was with the Jazz when they won 52 games in the 2020-21 season to lead the Western Conference. He was with them through crushing playoff losses, through the NBA bubble in Orlando, and he was named Sixth Man of the Year in 2021, after he was asked to revamp his offensive game.

He is the only player on the Jazz roster that survived the 2022-23 teardown of the team and once again has been asked to change his game. But becoming more of a facilitator while also still scoring with his trademark flair gave him the room he would need to finally log double-digits in three different stats columns.

It would have been unfair at this point for anyone other than Clarkson to be the one to break the spell. And coincidentally, it was as if the stars aligned for him.

Clarkson was 15 years old when Carlos Boozer notched a triple-double for the Jazz in a win over the Seattle SuperSonics back in 2008.

Clarkson became Boozer’s teammate in his rookie NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014. Then, a decade later, Boozer sent a congratulatory text to his former teammate.

“Congrats on the triple-double,” Boozer said.

The right place and the right time

Clarkson first learned about the lack of triple-double production from Jazz players back in 2021, when Mitchell and even Hassan Whiteside had recently been on triple-double watch. It would be a little over two years before Clarkson would prove to be the man for the job, but it came at the perfect moment.

As the Jazz celebrate their 50th season as an NBA franchise, the Jazz unfortunately suffered one of their most embarrassing losses on Dec. 6 — a 50-point blowout loss to the Mavericks.

Coincidentally, Mavs star Luka Doncic, who has logged 63 triple-doubles while the Jazz languished without one, hit that mark by halftime of that game in December.

So, it was fitting that when Doncic and the Mavericks came to Utah, that Clarkson would cement himself in the Jazz history books in a blowout revenge victory.

“The least impressed person was Luka for sure,” Hardy said with a laugh. “He was probably baffled why we all stood up and clapped.”

When Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving — three career triple-doubles to his name — was told how long it had been since a Jazz player had logged a regular-season triple-double, he was momentarily amazed and then realized why the crowd and the Jazz had been so elated.

“Wow, OK, so it was a big deal tonight,” Irving said. “Shoutout to J. Clarkson. It’s unfortunate that it happened against us, but any night you can get a triple-double is a special night, especially coming off the bench.”

The drama

To say that it was a special night is an understatement.

The arena was buzzing once it became clear that the milestone was legitimately in reach, and even though the Jazz led the Mavericks by as many as 39 points, the fans remained inside the Delta Center hoping that they were going to witness something historic.

The only thing that really could have stood in the way was Hardy, but he knew better than to get on the wrong side of the Jazz fans when it was clear that ending the triple-doubleless streak was possible.

“I’m obviously not here to mess up a good time,” Hardy said. “I understand that I would have been maybe the most hated man in the building if I had subbed him out. But there is a part of you where you’re the head coach and you’re like, the worst thing in the world would be Jordan turning his ankle, up 30, hunting for a triple-double.”

And of course it all came down to one rebound. One, stubborn, seemingly impossible rebound.

The points were easy. The assists, in a season in which Clarkson is averaging a career-high 5.3 per game, also came easy. But after Clarkson grabbed his ninth, it seemed like maybe the triple-double would remain elusive.

There were strange airballed shots, rebounds that bounced strangely in the opposite direction, and Walker Kessler, who was hilariously unaware of how close Clarkson was to getting the triple-double, was blocking shots rather than allowing them to go up for a possible rebound.

Clarkson had even considered intentionally missing his own shot so that he could grab the rebound and get it over with.

“But coach said not to do it like that,” Clarkson said. “All the way up to that last rebound I had I was a little nervous.”

During deadballs and timeouts, Hardy was begging Clarkson to grab a rebound and immediately call a timeout. The crowd was oohing and aahing with every ball that clanked off the rim, hoping that it would bounce Clarkson’s way. Jazz players were clearly and intentionally not crashing the glass but instead boxing out to give Clarkson the best chance.

Finally, with 2:31 left on the game clock, Luka Samanic boxed out to clear space around Clarkson and he leaped into the air and grabbed his 10th rebound. He immediately called timeout and the crowd at the Delta Center erupted.

“The way the building reacted, the way the fans reacted, the way the team reacted, the way that Jordan reacted. … I’m happy it worked out,” Hardy said.

More than a triple-double

Clarkson could have easily asked to get subbed out earlier in the game when the Jazz had clearly done what they’d set out to do against the Mavericks.

He didn’t have to play that much longer and put that much more wear on his body, but it was special and it was more meaningful than just breaking the Jazz’s triple-double drought.

It was all the small moments that led up to this great one. It was the serendipity of it being Boozer who had recorded the previous triple-double, it was all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into being a part of this team.

It was a moment that punctuated that Clarkson’s previous reputation as a gunner and nothing else is one that does not fit anymore and it was proof that he is a valuable player that is able to adapt and add value to a team.

It was everything that he’s been through over his 10-year career and it was everything that the Jazz had endured over the last 15 years that culminated on one night.

“It means a lot,” Clarkson said. “Honestly.”