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 points (189) in the league this season.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Golden State has made more clutch plays (48) than any other team in the league as well. Additionally, Curry led the NBA in 3-pointers in eight different seasons during his 15-year career. The 10-time All-Star also hit a league-high 357 3s in 74 games played this season.
“You have to be able to deal with failure,” Curry said. “You have to be careful with the image you miss, and have a short memory for it. I don't know if anything clicks unless you know how much time you've put into the game and that comes with the right confidence to say, 'OK, I'm ready for whatever moment you find yourself in, whatever shot you need. to take.'
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 whatnot, but there's a lot of pictures that you don't see where you're like, 'Yeah, that was good, I should have taken it, and then you move on to the next one.' You have to have a little amnesia built in there, and that's the only way you can come back with that kind of confidence.”
Curry finished with 45 first-place votes and 298 points, while DeRozan (34 first-place votes, 272 points) finished second, and Gilgeous-Alexander (11 first-place votes, 272 points 160) ranked a distant third.
Denver Nuggets center and top MVP candidate Nikola Jokic finished fourth. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was fifth, and 11 other players received at least one vote.
Stephen Curry won the 2023-24 NBA Clutch Player of the Year over DeMar DeRozan with 45 first-place votes
In an interview with TNT ahead of Thursday night's playoff games, Curry was asked about his disappointment watching the playoffs after the Warriors lost to the Sacramento Kings in the playoffs last week.
“I mean, what hurts is missing out on just three wins. … You are watching [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 at the beginning of the year we had a lot of mistakes and we are not there, but you can see that we are not that far, even after staying at this top for a long time.
“Something has been fixed, we know. When you lose, you have to look in the mirror and say, 'What can we do to be better? What holes can we fill?' … We'll find that out in the summer.”
DeRozan, 34, is the only player to win the award in back-to-back seasons. The award is issued for the 2022-23 season. The Bulls star finished second to Kings guard De'Aaron Fox in last year's poll.
Stephen Curry Is the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year!
Curry finished first in points (189), field goals (59) and three-pointers (32) this season (last 5 minutes of a game within 5 points).#NBAAwards | #KiaClutch | @Kiya pic.twitter.com/XtVs30QdFc
– NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2024
Chicago had the league's third-most clutch games this year (44). Also, DeRozan led his team to a 27-17 record, the sixth-best winning percentage in those games. He finished second in total points in the clutch (182).
Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, led the buzz of the top seed in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City recorded the fifth-best winning percentage (.632) and shot 58% in possession.
With an average age of 23.4 years, the Thunder were the youngest No. 1 seed ever. 1 in NBA history. The previous record was set by the Phoenix Suns (25.2 years) during the 2004-05 season.
Oklahoma City hasn't finished as a top seed since the 2012-13 season and hasn't been to the playoffs since the 2019-2020 season. The Thunder went from a 24-game winning streak over the past two seasons to the best record in the Western Conference.
