Nikola Jokic is the favorite for a major NBA award, just not the MVP
Feb 20, 2025, 11:54 AM
Nikola Jokic is fighting an uphill battle for this year’s NBA MVP award but he’s the favorite for an award Michael Jordan nor LeBron James has ever won.
The Denver Nuggets center is the current oddsmakers’ favorite to take home the league’s Clutch Player of the Year Award. Books have Jokic anywhere from -105 to +130 to win the third edition of the honor, which Stephen Curry and De’Aaron Fox have claimed in the past. Fitting more in with the past winners is Jokic’s competition this season for the trophy, Trae Young, Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey, all guards with strong shots.
Young paces the pack with the NBA’s most points in the clutch this season at 131 over 26 games that came down to the wire. But his team, like Maxey’s, is under .500 and the past two winners of the award played on teams who won more games than they lost. Jokic’s 99 points are the fifth-most, 20 assists the third-most and 34 rebounds the second-most across the NBA this season in the final five minutes of games when the score is within five points. And Brunson’s case is built around his 5.3 points per appearance in the clutch being the most in the NBA while being on one of the top teams in the East.
Clutch Player of the Year Odds
Nikola Jokic: +130
Trae Young: +300
Jalen Brunson: +400
Tyrese Maxey: +1,700
The Clutch Player of the Year is awarded to the NBA player who “best comes through for his teammates in the clutch” in the regular season. The trophy given is named after Jerry West, who was known for his late-game contributions while playing for the Lakers from 1960 to 1974. The award debuted for the 2022–23 season, and this will be the first time it is given since West passed away at age 86 last summer.
For Jokic it would be just another piece of hardware to add to his growing mantle. The seven-time All-Star has already made six All-NBA teams, won three MVP awards and took home both a Finals and Western Conference Finals MVP en route to the 2023 championship. Jokic has finished 13th and fourth for Clutch Player of the Year and seems to be the only big man who has even had a shot at the trophy so far in its young history.
Clutch Player of the Year could be a nice consolation prize for Nuggets fans since Jokic has fallen behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race. The latest straw poll from ESPN revealed that the Thunder guard has a commanding lead over the big man despite Jokic being on pace to average a triple-double.
