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Stephen Curry (Source: X)
Stephen Curry, a Golden State Warriors guard, won the NBA's second Clutch Player of the Year award Thursday. Stephen Curry defeated DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the award, which was established last season as an additional season-long award alongside Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, and Coach of the Year.
According to AP News Stephen Curry stated that, “When you see him in person you realize how much basketball matters to him, how competitive he is, how much he wants to win no matter what seat he’s in.” “And that rubbed off on our organization during that time. ... Any time Jerry West says something, you’re going to listen.”
Curry topped the league in clutch scoring as he scored points in the final 5 minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime with a five-point difference or less with 189, seven more than DeRozan. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 112 points in those "clutch" moments, the fifth highest in the league.
Stephen Curry was the third NBA award winner named this week
Curry finished with 298 points after receiving 45 first-place votes. DeRozan received 34 first-place votes and 272 points in the voting, with players collecting five points for a first-place vote, three for second place, and one for third. Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 160 points. Curry averaged 26.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.5 rebounds this season for the Golden State Warriors, who finished 10th in the Western Conference standings after falling to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in round.
Last year, Sacramento's De'Aaron Fox won the inaugural trophy named after West, the league's first "Mr. Clutch" with Miami's Jimmy Butler coming in second and DeRozan third. Gilgeous-Alexander finished sixth in the clutch vote last year, while Curry tied for ninth.
Curry was the third NBA award winner named this week, following Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey (Most Improved) and Minnesota's Naz Reid (Sixth Man). The next honour will be presented on Sunday, with either Oklahoma City's Mark Daigneault, Minnesota's Chris Finch, or Orlando's Jamahl Mosley being named Coach of the Year.