Top 10 clutch players in the NBA
Scoring a game-winner is every NBA player's dream, especially in a playoff setting. We’ve already seen four game-winners in the ongoing 2020 NBA playoffs, which ties the most for any postseason, and we’re not even in the Finals yet.
Anthony Davis recently made one of these shots against Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals. According to inpredictable.com, run by statistician Michael Beuoy, there’s a fascinating metric called Clutch Win Probability Added (CWPA), which is defined as the amount of win probability a player adds above or below a 'normal' play. Through this metric, we will take a look at the 10 most 'clutch players' in the NBA.
10 most clutch players in the NBA right now
#10 Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
It's surprising to see Stephen Curry, one of the greatest shooters of all time, so low in this list. The reason behind that is the fact that he has missed his last eight clutch shots, most recently the potential go-ahead 3-pointer with six seconds left in Game 6 against the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA finals.
#9 Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets)
Kyle Irving is responsible for hitting arguably the most clutch shot in NBA history, with a game-winning three-pointer against Golden State Warriors in 2016. Not only is he a great shooter in clutch situations, he also takes care of the ball, logging a turnover rate of 1.3 in clutch situations.
#8 Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
Despite being 22 years old, the former no. 3 pick posted an NBA-best 62.5% effective shooting percentage on clutch shots in the regular season. He has also shown this ability in the playoffs as he made five of his six clutch shots in the 2018 Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland Cavaliers.