NEW YORK – Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox was named winner of the inaugural NBA Clutch Player of the Year award on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).
The 25-year-old American received 91 of 100 possible first-place votes from a media panel after being among the nominees by league head coaches.
"It's definitely going to get added to the memorabilia room," Fox said.
Fox averaged 25.0 points, 6.1 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals a game and scored 194 "clutch" points — delivering at least five points in the final five minutes of a contest with a game on the line.
"I always tell people you can't be afraid to fail," Fox said. "You're not going to make every shot but my teammates and my coaches, they put me in positions to succeed so the least I can do is have confidence in myself and go take big shots."
Fox has helped the Kings seize a 2-0 lead over the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors with game three in the best-of-seven first round series set for Thursday in San Francisco.
Other finalists included Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who averaged 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals a game; and Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan, who averaged 24.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals a game.