NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 2, 2026

Jordan Clarkson

New York Knicks

Media Day

Q. Jordan, just wanted to ask you about your favorite memories playing at Wagner and just what it's like to be in this environment, back at a place that you know so well.

JORDAN CLARKSON: Definitely feels amazing. Kind of unreal, honestly, just growing up in this city, having a teammate that went to the same high school with me, as well, Kevin [McCullar Jr.]. Just a lot of great memories. Playing the state championship games. Just a lot of growth, man, from here as a kid.

This definitely feels great. Seeing my family members, them being able to come to a Finals game, it's just amazing.

Q. What do you make of the noise and the excitement over you going against Dylan Harper? The Filipino fan base is going crazy that we're going to finally have a Filipino player with a ring. What do you think about that?

JORDAN CLARKSON: Another amazing thing that's happening right now. Definitely inspiring to the Filipino Americans and Filipinos all around the country. It's definitely going to be fun to watch.

He's been really good throughout the whole year. I've been watching him, keeping up with him, as well. Him being so young and having so much poise throughout this whole Playoffs, it's a great sight to see a young star coming in this league and doing what he's doing.

Like you said, one of us two taking a championship back home to the Philippines and representing that well.

Q. Back in San Antonio obviously when you were growing up here in town, the Spurs were in the Playoffs a lot, Finals runs. Do you remember ever being a part of those runs from a fan perspective? What do you remember about the energy in this city?

JORDAN CLARKSON: I mean, the energy is always amazing. My stepmom worked at the Westin, so I would see the parades through the hotel balconies and stuff. I would sneak around there. At the hotels at that time, everybody was staying at the Westin downtown. Being able to take pictures and run up on players for autographs, I was definitely that kid. Around to see this energy and see how alive the city comes when the Spurs are in the Finals and winning championships.

It's a great experience.

Q. You talked about your family. First of all, who's pops rooting for in this series? I know he's a Spurs fan. Second of all, his influence on you as a young player and your mom's influence, your stepmom's influence today and still part of your career, how much do you draw from your parents' inspiration, especially your dad through his health issues?

JORDAN CLARKSON: My dad, definitely he'll be a Knicks fan this series. I wouldn't let him have it any other way.

But they've been super inspirational, like you said. Growing up here in San Antonio, my dad detailed the cars of a lot of Spurs players in terms of washing them and doing that, and then I would say my mom worked at the hotel, and with those NBA teams.

But for my dad, just seeing the grind and the fight that he's always put up with the battle with cancer and everything. So his strength and everything has poured into me over this time in terms of that, and I've been losing myself in the game in terms of basketball.

Yeah, just being focused on trying to win. But my dad's strength and everything has been the world to me, and seeing him continue to fight has been an amazing battle.

Q. You guys are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league, and obviously in the Playoffs. You've actually been sort of a surprising part of that in the postseason. How much of offensive rebounding success is game plan and the coaches saying, we want to crash from certain positions, and how much of it is a general team attitude like, we want to dominate the glass?

JORDAN CLARKSON: I would say that's just our identity. One through 15, I think we're all trying to impact the game in any way. That's one of the ways you really can get on the floor and impact the game in this. We've got a lot of players that do multiple things, and we're very versatile in all positions.

Doing the small things is a big emphasis for us that we put on everybody, and that's what we try to do.