The 2022-23 NBA season is the first year the NBA will be giving out the Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year Award. As we near the conclusion of the regular season it appears that Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox is going to take the award with relative ease.
In the latest Clutch Player Ladder on NBA.com, it was mentioned that Fox would essentially need to fall apart in order to lose his lead on the clutch player of the year award. Not only that, there really isn’t enough time for that to reasonably happen even if everything else lined up in that way.
All season long Fox has earned the title of the NBA’s most clutch performer and in the final stages of the regular season, he is seeing the rewards for his work. It would require a miracle for him to not win the award.
It would be a very cool moment for both Fox and the Kings franchise. After years of being irrelevant outside of Sacramento, the Kings could not only end their long playoff drought this year but also take home some awards to put on shelves.
No one deserves it more than Fox right now and that is unlikely to change. If he hangs on, Fox would go down in the history books as the first-ever winner of the Jerry West Award.
Kings Coach Mike Brown gives an update on Kevin Huerter
Kings wing Kevin Huerter missed his third straight game on Tuesday due to a knee injury. It’s nothing to be overly concerned about and shouldn’t be something that bothers Huerter to far into the future.
If he can get it right and healed now it should be smooth sailing sooner rather than later. With the Kings holding a significant lead in the Western Conference playoff race it’s understandable why they would choose to play it safe with Huerter right now.
Head Coach Mike Brown has the following to say following the Kings loss to the Boston Celtics:
Kings coach Mike Brown says Kevin Huerter has benefited from recent games off, coupled with Wednesday off and Thursday’s practice, he could potentially be ready for the two games on Friday and Saturday.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) March 22, 2023
Huerter isn’t far from making his return and once he does he should be full steam ahead. As was the case when he initially suffered the injury, the top priority is getting him healthy and ready to go heading into the NBA Playoffs.
Other News around the NBA
- NBA Legend Willis Reed passed away at 80 years old.
- Kings big man Domantas Sabonis and Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid have both won back-to-back player of the week awards.