The New York Knicks sealed the third seed in the Eastern Conference and will open the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, a matchup that puts Jordan Clarkson back in the spotlight as a secret weapon off the bench.
Clarkson has been there before. Across 43 career playoff games, he has averaged 11.7 points per game, but the bigger number for the Knicks is what he has done when the stage gets tighter. In 2021, he averaged 18.6 points per game in a first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies and 16.7 points per game in the second round against the Los Angeles Clippers. He followed that with 17.5 points per game across six games against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2022 first round.
The Knicks need that kind of punch now because their path will not be built on one scorer alone. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges can carry stretches, but New York will need more offense than that if it is going to keep moving in the East. Clarkson, who was the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2021, has shown he can supply it when the shots matter most.
The numbers from this season point the same way. In 2025-26, Clarkson averaged 18.3 points per game when playing more than 30 minutes, 11.5 points per game when playing between 20 and 29 minutes, and 7.3 points per game when he logged between 10 and 19 minutes. In mid-March, he scored 27 points in 26 minutes against the Utah Jazz, a reminder that his scoring can spike fast when he gets a real run.
There is also the gap in his playoff resume. Clarkson has not been in the postseason since 2022, yet he has scored in double figures in his eight most recent playoff games. That matters for New York because the Knicks have not been to the NBA Finals this century, and a bench scorer who can bend a playoff game in a few minutes may be the kind of detail that separates another short spring from a deeper run.
His best postseason burst still came in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, when he scored 26 points in slightly fewer than 29 minutes. For the Knicks, that is the bet: not that Clarkson will control a series, but that he can change one quarter, one night, maybe even one round.
