Why former Belmont star Ian Clark, now an NBA champion, is about to get paid

Ian Clark shares what he can when he can, and that meant his phone number with all Belmont players he encountered in a visit to his alma mater last week.

“Anything I can do for them, I’ll do it,” said Clark, and a couple days earlier he was sharing the Larry O’Brien Trophy with a packed gymnasium of kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Memphis.

That was the second of Clark’s two days with the trophy after helping the Golden State Warriors win it — it was the guest of honor at a party for family and friends at his childhood church a day earlier — and the reigning NBA champion and eligible NBA free agent shared some advice with the kids as well.

Focus on education. Listen to your coaches and elders. Enjoy what you’re doing.

“And just live out your dream,” Clark recalled of his message. “I have a different kind of story than most guys in this league, but I think the story shows you can live your dream if you put your mind to it.”

Eight years ago, Clark signed with Belmont over offers from Middle Tennessee State, Lipscomb, Davidson and Murray State as a 6-foot-3, 160-pound “two-star” shooting guard. Any day now, he may sign a multi-year deal with an NBA team for something in the range of $8 million a year.

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That’s the target, anyway. Even if Clark and agent Bill Duffy don’t quite get their asking price, he is about to be rewarded. After a spectacular four-year career for Rick Byrd’s Bruins. After two years of bouncing around the league, earning brief stints with Utah and Denver, then beating out former All-Star Ben Gordon for the final spot on the Golden State roster in the fall of 2015.

And after two seasons of increasingly important contributions to the Warriors, earning a total of about $2 million in the process. Clark averaged 6.8 points in 14.8 minutes off the bench last season, shooting 37.4 percent from 3-point range. He had a 36-point game in the regular season and five double-figure scoring games in a postseason run to the championship with one of the greatest teams ever assembled.

And the story that might best explain why Clark is in this position was told by coach Steve Kerr at the Warriors’ championship parade. Clark has learned to excel amid sporadic minutes, the Warriors changing up their reserves often for matchups, and Kerr approached Clark before the clinching Game 5 against the Cavaliers.

“This kid has helped us win playoff games two years in a row,” Kerr told the crowd of Clark. “Now all the sudden, biggest game of the year, I go to him, I say, ‘I’m not going to play you, I’m going to play somebody else.’”

More:NBA superstars salute Ian Clark at Germantown jersey retirement

Clark, who had played in every previous playoff game, 10 of them with double figures in minutes, didn’t blink. Kerr said celebrating with him and benched Javale McGee afterward was “probably the most poignant moment of the title celebration for me.”

“Ian, I mean we share this moment of ‘Man, we’re champions,’” Kerr said. “He’s got this huge smile on his face. And it was so satisfying as a coach because to me that’s what this team is all about.”

Several members of that team, including Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, accompanied Clark to his Germantown High jersey retirement ceremony in December. That closeness, Clark said, “was a bigger reason for our success than people realize,” and it has continued into the offseason.

Clark said he talks with Green and other Warriors all the time, even though it’s clear he won’t be playing with them next season. That door essentially closed when the Warriors signed 6-7 shooter Nick Young to a one-year, $5.2 million deal.

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This is always a business, and now Clark is hoping to capitalize on his success as a “three and D” guard with the Warriors — an off-the-ball scorer on offense who can stay with point guards on defense. That Clark hasn’t signed yet could indicate hesitation because of his size, or because he had the benefit of such greatness around him, but his performance and confidence stand on their own.

“I can’t worry about this, I just have to let it fall into place,” Clark said of the free agency process, which reportedly includes interest from the Lakers and Bucks. “At some point you stop worrying about surviving in this league and get determined to make your mark in it.”

The golden basketball Clark shared with Memphis for two days is a reminder that he already has. The follow-up trip to Nashville gave him a look at a Belmont team that must go on without its latest departed star, Evan Bradds.

“They’ve still got a lot of talent coming back, and coach Byrd always does a great job of putting together a great team when people don’t think he can,” Clark said. “That’s one of his special talents as a coach.”

That has much to do with outlook and, as Clark has learned, a mature one can be very rewarding.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.