Give it to Jordan Clarkson. When the New York Knicks got their first win of the season against the Detroit Pistons—a team that owned them last year—he was hit with a DNP. Coach Mike Brown kept him on the bench and there wasn't a specific reason. It does seem Clarkson took it to heart, because he balled out against the Bulls. Without him, they probably wouldn't have won.

Jalen Brunson and Clarkson were a dynamic scoring duo during their 19-point comeback. The captain put up 38 points, and Clarkson, with fresh legs, had 18. Their minutes together were pivotal, too. They spent 10 minutes on the court and had a 150 OFFRTG, according to NBA.com's Advanced Stats.

Seeing Clarkson be his old self—a game-changing sixth man—isn't just nice. It's a potentially huge development for his standing with New York after the team's early struggles with bench production.

Jordan Clarkson showed against Bulls that Knicks should view him as real rotation option

Clarkson was a machine in his 17 minutes. He was 7-for-11 from the field. He went 2-for-3 from three, with both being daggers to a Bulls team that played the Knicks hard all night. Clarkson also had three rebounds, an assist, and two steals. On top of that, he had the highest +/- of all the Knicks with 15. Behind him was Tyler Kolek with 13.

One of the initial death knells for the Bulls came from the reserve guard, too. Clarkson picked Leonard Miller's pocket after he caught a pass from Tre Jones, essentially catching the forward sleeping.

After the steal, Clarkson drove to the basket for a layup, making it 114-109. Both teams still had plenty of scoring left, but it was the first time the Knicks got real separation from the Bulls after being in chase mode for most of the night.

Whether Clarkson would return was one of the questions from the offseason, albeit, it was small potatoes compared to bigger questions like who was replacing Mitchell Robinson and KAT's extension talks. Even if it was a diminutive move compared to others, Coach Brown was probably grateful for Clarkson's return after that win in Chicago.

If there's one lesson from this game for the Knicks and Brown, it's that they know they can rely on Clarkson. He probably shouldn't get hit with many more DNPs.

Of course, his big night shouldn't surprise anyone. The 13-year veteran who has a Sixth Man of the Year award under his belt, and multiple votes for it over the years, has been in this position before. That was especially the case last year, when Clarkson played in 72 games, the most since the 2021-2022 season (79 games).

Last year Clarkson averaged 17.8 minutes a night. He averaged 8.6 points, shooting 45% from the field, with 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. It was strange to see the Knicks move away from his usage in the early going, and prompted questions about how long he might stick around in the Big Apple after he gave up no-trade rights to return.

However, Wednesday night was an emphatic statement that Clarkson, even not in his prime, can still absolutely help the Knicks. He might even need to take on a larger role than he did last year with the reserve unit regressing in notable ways early on.