Who Is Jordan Clarkson, the First NBA Champion of Filipino Descent?

(SPOT.ph) Filipinos do not need much convincing to care about basketball, but Jordan Clarkson just gave fans here a bigger reason to pay attention: he made history as the first player of Filipino descent to win an NBA championship.

The Filipino-American guard was part of the New York Knicks team that captured its first NBA title in 53 years, ending a championship drought that had stretched back to 1973. Who would have thought that a Filipino-American would be part of two major milestones at once?

Even if the San Antonio Spurs had a huge lead in the first half, Jordan disrupted the Spurs’ momentum after scoring in the final minute of the third quarter. From there on, the Knicks took over with a 4-1 series victory.

Clarkson is now considered one of the veterans in the locker room. In his first 12 years in the NBA, he has worn many jerseys before joining the Knicks in 2025: the Los Angeles Lakers (2014-2018), the Cleveland Cavaliers (2018-2019), and the Utah Jazz (2019-2025). To understand how he got here, let's go back to the very beginning.

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Born in Florida, Jordan is the son of African-American Mike Clarkson and Filipino-American Annette Tullao Davis. After his parents divorced when Jordan was young, he moved to Texas when he was six years old.

That move may have placed him far from the Philippines, but his Filipino side was never far from home. Clarkson’s maternal grandmother, Marcelina Tullao Kingsolver, who hails from Bacolor, Pampanga, helped introduce him to Filipino culture while he was growing up in the United States.

For Clarkson, that connection often came through the small, familiar things: family visits, shared meals, and time spent watching his grandmother cook.

“My grandma used to come and visit all the time, and she didn’t really speak that much English. And that was when we would just laugh, chill, hang out, watching her make chicken adobo and lumpia.”

But Filipino culture was only one part of the childhood that shaped him. Sports were another. Even though he was named after basketball legend Michael Jordan, he was initially drawn to track and field.

“Jordan is extremely fast. 400 meters was his specialty in the track club that he was with. For three years straight, he swept the sprints: 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters,” Mike Clarkson told ESPN Philippines.

He even tried all kinds of sports before eventually finding his love for basketball. After tagging along to his younger brother’s nationwide tournaments, Jordan slowly found his way to the sport. He soon traded his running shoes for basketball sneakers. It was only at 14 that Jordan started playing basketball.

“Honestly, it was a little too hot to be outside in the summertime … So I started looking for an indoor sport. I ended up playing basketball, and I started to watch Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, then I just fell in love with the game through all that,” Clarkson said.

To help him catch up, Mike Clarkson reached out to his old friend Dell Demps, who was a former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) import in the 1990s who later worked in pro player development for the Spurs. That gave the young Clarkson a chance to train at the Spurs facility and meet stars like Tim Duncan and Tony Parker—a detail that now feels full-circle after winning a championship against San Antonio.

With Demps’ guidance, Jordan went on to have a thriving collegiate basketball career before he was declared for the 2014 NBA Draft in his senior year. He was selected by the Washington Wizards and then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on draft night. After three and a half seasons in Los Angeles, he moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.

Along the way, Clarkson shared the court with some of the NBA’s biggest names. He remains the only Filipino player to have played alongside both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

His journey in the league also reflects how much his game has evolved over the years. What began as a role off the bench eventually turned into a breakout career highlighted by winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2021.

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During his NBA career, Clarkson suited up for Gilas Pilipinas at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia after receiving a special one-time exception from the NBA, as NBA players are only allowed to participate in the Olympics, the FIBA Basketball World Cup, Continental Cup competitions, and associated qualifying tournaments. 

By the time the Philippines co-hosted the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Clarkson was already playing for Gilas in that role. The national team finished 24th out of 32 teams.

Some may recall his most recent game as a national team player in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, when he was named  TCL Player of the Game after dropping 34 points in a 96-75 win over China. It was a rare feel-good win for the Philippines against China—and we’ll leave it at that.

For Clarkson, there is a greater sense of fulfillment in representing the Philippines, especially given how many Filipinos follow basketball. When talking about his national team stint, he said that it “was probably the most fun I’ve had playing basketball in a while.”

One of the Filipino traits he keeps close to his heart is treating everyone like family: “When you represent your country, my grandma’s culture, my people’s culture, it’s a different feeling you get.”

That connection to his Filipino roots goes beyond words. The 34-year-old doesn’t just wear the Filipino flag on his sleeve; he even has it tattooed on his body—in honor of his maternal grandmother and the country she connected him to.

It’s also part of why he takes an interest in helping the next generation of Filipino basketball players. Clarkson has talked about mentoring and supporting talents such as Kai Sotto.

“It’s what I could do for these young guys in terms of giving back to the game, impacting their careers, and sharing my experiences.”