Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was named the 2023-24 NBA Clutch Player of the Year on Thursday night, finishing ahead of Chicago Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Curry, 36, finished with the most clutch points scored (189) in the league this season.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Golden State played in more clutch games (48) than any other team in the league as well. Additionally, Curry has led the NBA in 3-pointers eight different seasons across his 15-year career. The 10-time All-Star also hit a league-high 357 3s in 74 games played this season.
“You’ve got to be able to deal with failure,” Curry said. “You have to be OK with the shot you miss, and have a short memory with it. I don’t know if anything clicked other than you know how much time you’ve put into the game and with that comes deserved confidence of, ‘OK, I’m ready for whatever moment you find yourself in, or whatever shot you need to take.’
The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year. pic.twitter.com/vAEzGmiZS3
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 25, 2024
“Everybody remembers the highlights and what-not, but there’s plenty of shots that you miss where you’re like, ‘Yeah, that was a good one I should have taken, and you move onto the next.’ You have to have a little amnesia built in there, and that’s the only way you can come back with that type of confidence.”
Curry finished with 45 first-place votes and 298 total points, while DeRozan (34 first-place votes, 272 points) placed second, and Gilgeous-Alexander (11 first-place votes, 160 points) ranked a distant third.
Denver Nuggets center and top MVP candidate Nikola Jokic was fourth. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was fifth, and 11 other players received at least one vote.
Stephen Curry wins 2023-24 NBA Clutch Player of the Year over DeMar DeRozan with 45 first-place votes
During an interview with TNT before Thursday night’s playoff games, Curry was asked about his disappointment in having to watch the playoffs after the Warriors lost to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament last week.
“I mean, the sad part was just missing three wins. … You’re looking at [and saying], ‘OK, we’re down 0-1 and we can find a way to gameplan to get back in the series,’” Curry said. “Obviously, early in the year we had a lot of missteps and absences, but you realize we’re not that far off, even after staying at this peak for so long.
“There’s some tweaks, we know. When you lose, you have to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘What can we do to get better? What holes can we fill?’ … We’re going to figure that out over the summer.”
DeRozan, 34, is the only player to be a finalist for the award in back-to-back seasons. The award debuted for the 2022-23 season. The Bulls star finished second to Kings guard De’Aaron Fox in last year’s voting.
Stephen Curry is the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year!
Curry finished first in points (189), made field goals (59) and made 3-pointers (32) in the clutch this season (last 5 minutes of a game within 5 points).#NBAAwards | #KiaClutch | @Kia pic.twitter.com/XtVs30QdFc
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2024
Chicago played in the third-most clutch games in the league this year (44). Plus, DeRozan led his team to a 27-17 record, the league’s sixth-best winning percentage in those games. He finished second in total points in the clutch (182).
Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, led the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City recorded the fifth-best winning percentage (.632) and shot 58% in clutch moments.
With an average age of 23.4 years, the Thunder became the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history. The previous record was set by the Phoenix Suns (25.2 years) in the 2004-05 season.
Oklahoma City hadn’t finished as the top seed since the 2012-13 season and hadn’t been to the playoffs since the 2019-20 season. The Thunder went from winning 24 games two seasons ago to now having the best record in the Western Conference.
