Filipino-American basketball star Jordan Clarkson, 23, has received an odd piece of advice from his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant, 37. The advice has something to do with the color of their skin.
On Jan. 3, the Los Angeles Lakers won over the Phoenix Suns. The game was so violent that on the sidelines, Iggy Azalea's fiancé and Kendrick Lamar's cousin Nick Young pretended that that he needed CPR to be revived.
It was when Clarkson was asked what he remembered after the Los Angeles Lakers-Phoenix Suns game that he recalled the odd advice Bryant gave him. Apparently, Bryant was trying to get Clarkson to be more aggressive in attacking the basket.
"All I remember that is Kobe telling me I'm going to the hole like a light-skinned dude," Los Angeles Daily News quoted Clarkson as saying. "I have to go to the hole like a dark-skinned dude. As soon as the lane opened up, that's all I could remember."
In a recent interview with Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott, 54, shared what he expects from Clarkson. He pointed out that there is no doubt that the Filipino-American NBA player has come a long way but they have a high expectation of him as they believe that he still has a long way to go.
"He's the type of kid to put in the work to get there," Scott told the publication about Clarkson. "He has to be a little bit more aggressive, as far as getting to the basket. He has to be able hit the three-pointer, get to the basket. His mid-range game is pretty good."
Like other Los Angeles Lakers players, Clarkson has had to adjust to the intermittent playing schedule of Bryant. As a restricted free agent in July, Clarkson will take up $2.7 million of the salary-cap space of the Los Angeles Lakers before he signs again with the team.
Born in Tampa, Florida, Clarkson was six years old when he moved to San Antonio, Texas. He signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at the University of Tulsa in 2009 before joining the Los Angeles Lakers team in 2014.
Clarkson's father is African-American while his mother is half Filipino. His girlfriend Chanel Iman, 25, is of African American and Korean descent.
Watch Clarkson jam on the Phoenix Suns' Alex Len here: