On Wednesday, the NBA announced that New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was named the 2024-25 Clutch Player of the Year.
The award embodies a player who delivered when the lights shined the brightest and came through late in close games. Brunson joins De’Aaron Fox and Stephen Curry as the three winners of the award since its inception during the 2022-23 season.
Brunson won the award in a landslide victory, garnering 70 out of 100 first-place votes. He finished with 426 total points, 114 points ahead of Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic, who finished with 312 points.
Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Curry and LeBron James were the only other players to receive first-place votes.
Despite the new additions of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, Brunson has remained the Knicks’ closer.
The star guard made his second-consecutive All-Star team and averaged 26 points per game this season. He improved his efficiency from last year, getting buckets at a 48.8% clip from the field while draining 38.3% of his shots from beyond the arc.
That high efficiency continued even when the lights were bright. According to the NBA, Brunson averaged a League-high 5.6 points per game in clutch situations—possessions within the final five minutes of a game when the score is within five points. He also drained 52 clutch field goals and shot over 51.5% from the field within the final minutes of games.
As the Knicks battle against a gritty Detroit Pistons squad in the opening round of the playoffs, Brunson’s clutch gene has delivered in both Games 1 and 3. In Game 1, Brunson helped cap off a 21-0 run by hitting a go-ahead hook shot and making two layups to help the Knicks pull away for a 123-112 victory. In Game 3, Brunson shot 4-6 in the fourth quarter, including sinking four free throws that iced the game in the final seconds of a 118-116 game.
Since the Pistons keep games close, look for the Knicks to rely on their closer and Clutch Player of the Year winner to close out games and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
