Veteran point guard Jalen Brunson just added another accolade to his NBA resume. In a formal announcement on social media, Brunson was revealed as the winner of this year’s Clutch Player of the Year award for his performance on the New York Knicks this season.
“New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is the recipient of the Jerry West Trophy as the 2024-25 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year,” wrote the NBA in a viral post.
The Clutch Player of the Year award was added in 2023 to reward those who excel in clutch time, during the highest-pressure moments of any game. In the NBA, “clutch time” is typically considered the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.
The NBA never gave any formal awards for the category, but they felt it was a necessary step to recognize and appreciate the NBA’s greatest late-game performers. In the 2022-23 campaign, De’Aaron Fox became the first player to win it with 194 clutch points on 52.9% shooting. Last season, Stephen Curry won the award with a total of 189 points.
The process for picking a winner involves a media panel of 100 voters, who will vote for a winner based on nominations from NBA head coaches. This year, there were many worthy contenders in both the West and the East, but only three players made the cut: Nikola Jokic, Anthony Edwards, and Jalen Brunson.
Jokic got at least some traction for the award with 26 first-place votes, and he almost single-handedly kept the Nuggets in the top six. Anthony Edwards only got two winning votes for the award, but his fearless nature makes him an easy choice when discussing clutch play among top athletes.
In the end, Jalen Brunson won CPOY honors easily with 70 of the 100 first-place votes, and the numbers say that it was well-deserved. He totaled 156 points in the clutch with 52 field goals on 51.5% shooting. Overall, the Knicks went 17-11 in clutch games with Brunson, and he was the catalyst behind their 51-win season.
Through 65 games in the regular season, Jalen averaged 26.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game on 48.8% shooting. He was voted as an All-Star for the second straight year as the leader and face of the New York Knicks.
During the regular season, Brunson’s shooting and scoring powered the Knicks’ offense and ensured they had a go-to option in times of trouble. Jalen’s skills, along with the impact of Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and others, were critical to their success, and they’ll need to play up to a similar standard to advance deep into this current postseason.
As they fight to avoid an early elimination in the NBA playoffs (1-1 against the Pistons in Round 1), the Knicks are focused entirely on the championship pursuit, and Brunson is leading the charge. After dropping 37 points in the loss on Monday, he did everything he could for the Knicks, but they’ll need more from the role players to have any chance of a title run.
Whatever happens in this series, however, nothing will change the Knicks’ stance on Brunson. Ever since his trade from the Mavericks, Jalen has become a premium point guard, and he’s been shaping the identity of their entire organization.
