Who leads the NBA in points scored in the clutch this season?
The NBA regular season is rapidly approaching its conclusion with only a little over 20 games remaining. Without a doubt, this year has been a rollercoaster ride for both the fans and players. The basketball world witnessed some of the best, worst and funniest moments this 2022-23 season. With that in mind, some might be wondering who has been the most clutch player all season long.
De'Aaron Fox, one of the stars carrying the Sacramento Kings the entire season, has been putting up clutch performances for his team. The NBA states that "clutch points" are made when a team is ahead or behind by fewer than five points in the final five minutes of a game.
Having said that, Fox is currently the most clutch player this season, with a total of 148 clutch points.
De'Aaron Fox. Clutch.
36 PTS (14 in OT)
4 REB
5 AST
Kings get the W in a wild one. https://t.co/Jdu0fInVQV
De'Aaron Fox is finally an NBA All-Star
Before officially being invited to his first NBA All-Star game on Saturday, De'Aaron Fox was initially snubbed. The only Sacramento Kings player who was invited first was Domantas Sabonis. While Sabonis is deserving of his All-Star status, Fox being snubbed has raised a lot of eyebrows in the community. The Kings wouldn't be where they are today if it wasn't for De'Aaron's brilliant breakout season.
De'Aaron Fox is currently averaging 24.6 points, 6.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. If the NBA was going to base the All-Star invitation on stats alone, Fox should've already been named a couple of seasons ago when the Kings star averaged 25.2 points, 7.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. Statistically his best individual season so far.
Thankfully, the association found the opportunity to correct its mistake of not including Fox in this year's All-Star game. According to Yahoo Sports, Fox has been named an All-Star injury reserve replacement. It may not be the ideal way to get invited, but at least he's finally in it.
As ecstatic as De'Aaron Fox should be, in his book, it should've already happened. Despite these sentiments, he's still grateful for finally being named an All-Star.
"I think it should have happened already, but I'm appreciative, for sure," Fox told reporters. "... This is good for the team, for the organization."
He shared that getting snubbed didn't really affect him since he was more worried about his wife, who was in labor at the time of the All-Star announcement.
"I didn't care ... I was more so worried about my wife and worried about our child being born," Fox said.
Fox also added that the new family of three would travel to Salt Lake City on February 19 for the All-Star game, noting that it would be "great" for them "to experience that for the first time."