SGA breaks down his record-setting clutch season and what the prestigious award, named after his personal mentor Jerry West, truly means.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is going to need a bigger trophy case.
The reigning 2025 NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP and Western Conference Finals MVP just picked up his first 2026 award. Gilgeous-Alexander was named this season's Clutch Player of the Year.
Tuesday night's announcement was a mere formality. Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in total clutch points, led the league in clutch plus minus, led the league and broke the all-time record in clutch points per game, owned an impressive 20-7 clutch record and hit numerous game-winners and daggers in high profile games. The only surprise was that Gilgeous-Alexander received "only" 96 first place votes.
The Thunder superstar spoke with Oklahoma City media shortly after the award announcement and shared his thoughts on winning the prize.
“It’s amazing. Those moments for me growing up, watching them, is what got me most excited about the game of basketball in general," Gilgeous-Alexander said of winning Clutch Player of the Year. "Coming through for your team, for the fanbase, for everyone that wanted you to win and making a big time play 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. And really makes it easy for me to go out there and trust my work and be aggressive in those situations. It's special nonetheless, there's a lot of really good players in this league that are really talented and to win any award in this league is special."
The Clutch Player of the Year Award is named after Jerry West, someone who holds a special place in Gilgeous-Alexander's career. The Hall of Famer and NBA Logo himself was a consultant for the Los Angeles Clippers and convinced the organization to draft the Kentucky guard.
“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," Gilgeous-Alexander said of his relationship with the NBA legend. "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. I always kept that in the back of my mind. He wrote a letter to me after my first season. I have it to this day. It meant a lot. He means a lot."
One big regular season award down for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The question is: does he have one much bigger one to go?