OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 During Oklahoma City\u2019s injury-ravaged season, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander found himself in the clutch often \u2014 moments he not only anticipated, but reveled in this year. Now, he\u2019s been rewarded for it.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the NBA announced that Gilgeous-Alexander was voted as this season\u2019s winner of the Clutch Player of the Year Award, aka the Jerry West Trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win this award, you have to help your team win games late,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander told NBC\u2019s in-studio crew. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m after more than anything, winning games.\u201d<\/p>\n
He received 96 first-place votes, plus one second- and third-place vote each, tallying 484 total points for a resounding win. Jamal Murray and Anthony Edwards, his fellow finalists, did not tally any first-place votes.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander is the fourth different recipient of the award in as many seasons, following Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry and De\u2019Aaron Fox.<\/p>\n
West, who was a consultant with the LA Clippers when they selected SGA with the 11th pick in the 2018 draft, was among the earliest identifiers of the star guard\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always believed in me, from the jump,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters via Zoom of West, who died in 2024 at 86. \u201cHaving a guy like that believe in you really gives you a good push in the back. Knowing that he believed in me my first day in the NBA, I knew I was on the right path and headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always kept that in the back of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Thunder (64-18) were 24-10 in clutch games during the regular season, the NBA\u2019s second-best such winning percentage behind the Los Angeles Lakers (22-8). Individually, Gilgeous-Alexander was 20-7 in such games.<\/p>\n
Per the NBA\u2019s \u201cClutch\u201d tracking data, which accounts for the final five minutes of a game in which the score differential is five points or fewer, Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s average of 6.5 points in the clutch is the best in the NBA among those who played more than one clutch game. For the season, SGA\u2019s NBA-high 175 clutch-time points were scored in just over 125 such minutes, about 52 more than second-place Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets (166). He shot 51.5 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from deep in clutch time.<\/p>\n
On go-ahead\/game-tying shots inside within the final two minutes of regulation or overtime, Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s 27 makes this season were the second-most in the NBA behind the Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 Tyrese Maxey. He shot 63.4 percent on such attempts, second to New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson.<\/p>\n
But zoom in further: On go-ahead shots, SGA recorded a league-leading 17 makes and shot 58.6 percent on those looks.<\/p>\n
The gravity of Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s season was underscored in the fourth quarter. He seemed to consistently press two buttons: His dominance either ensured he never needed to play the final 12 minutes, or his circumstances determined he could wear the cape for the final five.<\/p>\n
Asked Tuesday if any moments specifically stick out to him from this season, SGA\u2019s eyes rolled back to access his bank of clutch shots.<\/p>\n
He recalled how Oklahoma City\u2019s season began with back-to-back overtime games. He also referenced his most recent display of heroics, a March 30 overtime win over the shorthanded Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n
SGA tallied 21 of his 47 points that night between the fourth quarter and overtime without missing a shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose games felt like, more than any, I had my control on things late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A lot gets lost in the middle.<\/p>\n
Perhaps no week better encapsulated his late-game gall than the eight days from March 4-12, four straight wins versus the Knicks, Warriors, Nuggets and Celtics.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander did not discriminate. He gave Denver a farewell with a leaning 3 at the buzzer. He gave the Thunder breathing room against the Warriors and Knicks with similar sidestep 3s with less than two minutes to play.<\/p>\n
All games decided in the clutch amid a tight race atop the Western Conference. All decided by SGA\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
Now, his regular season will be remembered for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 During Oklahoma City\u2019s injury-ravaged season, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander found himself in the clutch often…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-715594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116446459541840803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}