Sacramento Kings star guard De’Aaron Fox made NBA history on Tuesday.
The NBA named Fox as the first-ever recipient of the Clutch Player Award! The NBA awarded the Kings star with the award on Tuesday evening.
“SWIPA IS CLUTCH! De’Aaron Fox wins the first-ever Clutch Player of the Year Award,” ESPN tweeted.
SWIPA IS CLUTCH 🦊
De'Aaron Fox wins the first-ever Clutch Player of the Year award 🏆 pic.twitter.com/GDoULpfRmD
— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2023
The first-ever Clutch Player Award was created in the hopes of recognizing star players. Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan and Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler were the other two finalists for the award.
According to The Athletic, “The NBA defines clutch time as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.” Fox recorded 194 points in the clutch this season in 160 minutes of “clutch time” according to the publication.
This is certainly an interesting award to be handed out because of its stipulations. But it’s definitely a very bold idea that, in the end, lets a player receive an honor they may not have otherwise had an opportunity to.
Fox and his Kings have the multi-time NBA Champion Golden State Warriors on the ropes right now. Sacramento owns a 2-0 lead over the Warriors in their Western Conference First Round series. The Kings made the postseason for the first time since the 2006 this season after a remarkably impressive season. De’Aaron Fox, of course, played a crucial role there.
[ESPN, The Athletic]
