Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry has been named the recipient of the Jerry West Trophy as the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year, it was announced today.
Curry led the league in several clutch categories, including points (189), 3-pointers (32) and field goals made (59), hitting 49.6% from the field, 45.7% from 3-point range and 39-of-41 from the free throw line (95.1%).
Curry hit a pair of game-winning shots with less than one second remaining, converting a layup with 0.2 seconds left to give the Warriors a 141-139 win at Oklahoma City on Nov. 3 and a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 113-112 victory over Phoenix on Feb. 10. He totaled 13 made field goals with fewer than 24 seconds left, including game-clinching buckets on Dec. 9 vs. Portland, Dec. 16 vs. Brooklyn and Dec. 19 vs. Boston.
On Jan. 27 vs. the Lakers, Curry hit a game-tying layup with 5.9 seconds remaining, followed by a steal with 3.5 seconds left, to force overtime against the Lakers. His ninth 3-pointer of the game put the Warriors ahead by one with 4.7 seconds remaining in double-OT before the Lakers answered back.
On Feb. 3 at Atlanta, Curry scored a career-high 22 fourth quarter points and hit a go-ahead layup with 13.8 seconds remaining before the Hawks forced overtime, where he scored eight of Golden State’s 11 points en route to his second career 60-point performance.
Curry, 36, recently completed his franchise-record 15th season with the Warriors, earning his 10th career NBA All-Star nod and posting averages of 26.4 points, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 32.7 minutes in 74 games (all starts). Curry led the NBA in 3-point field goals for the eighth time in his career with 357 threes—the third most in a single-season in NBA history, hitting 40.8% from behind-the-arc. He finished second in the league in free throw percentage behind teammate Klay Thompson, hitting 92.3% from the line.
Golden State played in a league-leading 48 clutch games this season (games within five points with five or fewer minutes remaining). Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were previously named finalists for the award based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox won the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year award last season.