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The Los Angeles Lakers sent their young core into the summer with an edict to improve their game during the off-season. For Julius Randle, this involved using intense workouts to build muscle and cut fat. For his fellow 2014 NBA Draft pick Jordan Clarkson, it may have involved cutting something else.
It's common knowledge that Clarkson has had a tendency to be right-hand dominant during his short career so far, a not uncommon issue for players because it's far more comfortable to use the hand they are used to than their non-dominant hand, especially because often players aren't forced to use both during lower levels of competition.
Clarkson wants to fix that issue, which is comendable. However, according to Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet, it sounds like Clarkson may have gone to some extreme, probably not medically advisable lengths in order to improve his left hand and/or hired Jigsaw from the Saw films as his new personal trainer:
Caught up with Jordan Clarkson at his bball camp in Corona. Said he "cut off his right hand" this summer, using his left much more on court.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) June 16, 2017
Uhhhh, Jordan? Your right hand is kind of inportant for basketball once the off-season is over. You know that doesn't re-attach, right?
Hahaa. JC is fine. He was using a figure of speech https://t.co/OX2cVas5s7
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) June 16, 2017
Oh thank goodness. As cool as the prospect of Clarkson with a robot hand sounds in theory, it may not have beem that effective in practice. Instead, it sounds like he's just working on his game the old-fashioned, non-amputative or cybernetically-enhanced way. If it leads to a more diverse game, I think anyone can get behind that.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.