As Jordan Clarkson aims for Sixth Man of the Year, he sees it as a team award

Before Jordan Clarkson began his offseason workouts, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson gave him a goal.

Be so good off the bench that you win the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award. To Clarkson, that challenge was bigger than himself.

“See, the big thing about that is, if we ain’t winning, I ain’t gonna be no Sixth Man of the Year,” Clarkson said. “Lou was averaging, what, close to 18, 19 last year. He wasn’t getting no terms of recognition for being sixth man of the year because we were losing. All that kind of comes to fruition. If I’m playing good off the bench, it’s going to help us win games. That’s the big thing.”

Clarkson, who averaged 14.7 points, three rebounds and 2.6 assists last season was one of the anchors of the Lakers’ second unit. He played alongside guard Lou Williams, who was one of the best bench players in the NBA during his time with the Lakers and who did get some buzz for the bench award early in the season.

Just before the trade deadline, the Lakers traded Williams to the Houston Rockets, where he shared a roster with Eric Gordon. Gordon won the award, and Williams finished third.

Johnson’s goal in challenging Clarkson was to bring the best out of his fourth-year guard — one he feels can be strong on both offensive and defensive.

“I think that’s a fair goal for him,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “I think he has the talent to be in that conversation. The goals we’re giving right now coming out of the summer, we had a player development sheet that we wanted him working on certain things. He did that all summer. He’s come back stronger.”

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli

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