Stephen Curry is adding more hardware to his already stacked trophy case. The Golden State Warriors superstar has officially been named the 2023-24NBA KIA Clutch Player of the Year, the league announced on Thursday evening.
Curry is the second recipient of the award after Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, the inaugural winner of the trophy.
With 45 of the 99 first place votes, the four-time NBA champion beat out Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma City Thunder MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to capture the Jerry West trophy, aptly named after the Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers legend who was dubbed as Mr. Clutch during his heyday.
Curry tallied 298 points to slightly edge out DeRozan’s 272. SGA rounded out the finalists with 160 points.
Curry Proved His Clutch Gene All Season
The Warriors needed the superstar point guard to come through in most games
The Warriors had a disappointing season overall, but they wouldn’t even have a chance to fight for a playoff spot if not for the heroics of Steph Curry all throughout the campaign. When it came down to coming through when his team needed him the most, Curry more often than not made a big shot to give the Warriors a fighting chance in close games.
The four-time NBA MVP led the league in several clutch categories — which is defined as the last five minutes of a game within five points — this season, including points (189), field goals made (59), and three-pointers made (32). Curry also shot 49.6 percent from the field and 45.7 percent from long distance during clutch situations, which are both above his regular season marks.
Curry appeared in 43 clutch games for the Warriors and tallied a record of 23-20 in those outings. Just imagine how much worse that record would have been if Steph Curry didn’t save the day for the Dubs on most of those nights.
As seen by their record, the Warriors certainly failed a lot in a lot of clutch games.
Curry’s Clutch Moments
Curry provided the Warriors with plenty of clutch moments this season
Despite failing to make the playoffs and the way their season ended, Curry still provided Warriors fans with plenty of exhilarating and heart-stopping moments throughout the season.
Curry had two game-winners this year, with one of them coming against the Phoenix Suns back in February. The best part about that shot was the degree of difficulty of having to pirouette to catch the ball and then stepping into that long three-pointer while down two points with 3.3 seconds remaining in the game.
The other one came early in the campaign, during the In-Season Tournament, where he made a game-winning layup with 0.2 seconds remaining to beat the Thunder.
And of course, no Warriors fan would forget about his clutch dagger three-pointer against the Boston Celtics back in December, further proving that after all these years, he still owns the team he beat in the 2022 NBA Finals.
There are plenty more other moments that Warriors fans can point to where Curry sent them into chaos with his impossible heroics. It’s just unfortunate that NBA fans will not be able to witness his greatness in this year’s playoffs.