In the fourth quarter of games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander followed one of two arcs — either he kicked his feet up to relax as the final dozen minutes played out or he tied Superman’s cape around his shoulders to carry the reigning NBA champions to the finish line.
The NBA recognized the latter. Gilgeous-Alexander was named the 2025-26 Clutch Player of the Year award winner. He ran away with the trophy with 484 voting points — 96 first-place votes and one vote each for second-place and third-place.
The NBA defines the clutch as a five-point game within the final five minutes of regulation. In those scenarios, Gilgeous-Alexander was a one-man scoring machine. The walking 30-point bucket led the league in clutch scoring at 175 points on 51.5% shooting. He also led the league with 16 go-ahead field goals in those high-stress situations.
Add Clutch Player of the Year to Gilgeous-Alexander’s stuffed trophy case. While the NBA’s latest honor strengthens his all-time resume, he has his eyes on a bigger prize — possibly back-to-back MVP trophies. We’ll see when that’s announced, but in the meantime, here’s what he had to say about his newest award:
On winning Clutch Player of the Year
“It’s amazing. Those moments for me growing up, watching them, are what got me most excited about the game of basketball in general. Just coming through for your team, for the fanbase, for everyone that wanted you to win and making a big time play. It was always the pinnacle of sports for me. Just being in that moment, night in and night out, and having the guys trust me, having the coaching staff trust me to go out there and make those plays, it means a whole lot. Just makes it easy on me to go out there and trust my work and be aggressive in those situations.”
On Jerry West’s memory
The Clutch Player of the Year award is named after Jerry West. The NBA pantheon is one of the league’s most notorious names. Of course, he worked in the LA Clippers’ front office when they added Gilgeous-Alexander in the 2018 NBA draft. So winning his trophy adds a little bit of sentimental value.
“He always believed in me from the jump. Having a guy like that believe in you really gives you a good push in the back. Knowing that he believed in me from my first day in the NBA. I knew that I was on the right path and headed in the right direction,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Always kept in the back of my mind. He wrote a letter to me after my first season. I have it to this day. So yeah, it meant a lot. He means a lot. He was an amazing player.”
On Clutch Player of the Year’s relevance
If you follow the NBA, you know about their big-time awards. You got MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year. Yada. Yada. But Clutch Player of the Year is the league’s latest entrant. First introduced in the 2022-23 season, only four players have won it.
The NBA hopes that, as time moves on, it loses its novelty and becomes ingrained in basketball’s zeitgeist for future generations of fans. Having the probable MVP winner win it is a step in the right direction — even if it wasn’t at the top of mind.
“Not really. I wouldn’t say any less than the other awards, but neither any more,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “When you’re going through the season, and it’s so many ups and downs, so many things going on, awards are the last thing on your mind.”
On moments that stick out
Winning Clutch Player of the Year must mean Gilgeous-Alexander has a library filled with top moments that helped him seal the deal. None are in the same galaxy as his top 2025 NBA Finals moments, but he listed out a few games that stuck out to him.
“Well, we started the season off with two double overtime games. So that jumps out first. I had the game against Denver. The game winner. I guess the most recent one, Detroit. Probably because it’s the most recent,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Those games felt like more than any, I had my control on things late.”
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reacts to winning 2025-26 Clutch Player of the Year