Clippers player who will shock NBA world with breakout 2026-27 season appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The LA Clippers are in a state of uncertainty. Following the NBA’s ruling regarding Kawhi Leonard’s sponsorship deals and the team’s role in helping facilitate them, Steve Ballmer, Gillian Zucker and Lawrence Frank have all been suspended for varying amounts of time. Leonard has since been traded to the Toronto Raptors, and the current roster is a mixed bag. That leaves a few players on the Clippers roster as candidates for a potential breakout season.
This is going to be Darius Garland’s team, and the budding young guard would be an excellent, if not obvious, choice to elevate his game and turn in a career year. Newcomer Rui Hachimura is also in line for a bigger role than he previously held with the Los Angeles Lakers, and is in line to benefit statistically. But one Clippers player who is without a doubt, primed for a breakout season, is sixth-year big man Isaiah Jackson.
Isaiah Jackson to have breakout Clippers season
Jackson is coming into his sixth season in the NBA, and his first full year with the Clippers. The No. 22 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, he had spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers before being included in the Ivica Zubac trade at last season’s deadline.
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He played on and off after the deal, appearing in 17 games for the Clippers at a little over 15 minutes per game. He averaged 7.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocked shots while shooting 76.4 percent from the field.
The former Kentucky standout was once considered a part of the Pacers’ growing young core. He’s currently in the second year of a three-year deal he signed with the Pacers in the 2025 offseason worth around $21 million. It’s a straight contract without any options, and he’ll hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2028.
The biggest reason why Jackson is a good candidate to have a breakout season is because of his changing role this year. During training camp, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged that he had decided on Jackson as the team’s starting center for opening night, as per Justin Russo of Russo Writes.
After the Zubac trade, Brook Lopez moved into the starting lineup for the Clippers at center, a spot he held all the way up until the team’s play-in loss to the Golden State Warriors. With Jackson now in his place, he brings a much different skill-set. Lopez, at this point of his career, is more of a pick and pop player while Jackson is a lob threat off the roll.
Jackson is also a good transition player to have running alongside Darius Garland. The 24-year-old has started a handful of games each season since he was with the Pacers, but this will be his first foray into a full-time starting role.
He played in three preseason for the Clippers, averaging 7.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 53.3 percent from the field. He also knocked down an open 3-point shot. Jackson has only taken a total of 37 3-point attempts in his career, with the majority of them coming in his first two seasons (30). If he can consistently knock down the outside shot, that’s another reason why he can have a breakout year.
Jackson is an energy big, and most of his scoring opportunities are going to come from off-ball movement. Playing alongside a playmaking guard like Garland is going to benefit him tremendously. He can move in ways that Lopez can’t anymore, putting himself in position to receive the pass. If he stays in his starting role all year, look for him to be among the Clippers players who will shock the NBA world with a breakout season.