Ranking the NBA's Most Clutch Players at Every Position
If you were putting together a five-man lineup designed specifically to win NBA games when the stakes were highest, what would it look like?
Follow-up question: Would the other four guys be cool with Chris Paul's being in charge?
We've just spoiled one of our picks, but you can hardly be surprised at CP3's inclusion if you've paid even the slightest bit of attention to the 2021-22 season.
Clutch time, as it's commonly known, refers to the last five minutes of a game when the score is within five points. It's helpful to have that clear definition in an area of analysis that tends to be hazy otherwise. Clutch play is notoriously inconsistent from year to year, and you run into trouble when assuming that just because a player or team has been clutch, they will continue to be. With one notable exception (hi again, CP3!), crunch-time success is rarely sustainable.
We leaned on that "last five within five" timeframe and made our selections with volume and role in mind. It's possible for players to have great clutch plus-minus figures because of who else is on the floor with them. We want those who actively affect outcomes: high-volume shooters, high-usage distributors and, to create a term, action-controllers.
Basically, the player's team needs to win a bunch of close games, and said player must have a lot to do with it. Buzzer-beaters will feature heavily, but we wanted consistency over big chunks of minutes. It took more than a single decisive shot to rank first at a position*, though we highlighted plenty of those, too.
*Defined by where the player logs most of their minutes, using Cleaning the Glass' breakdowns.
Point Guard
1 of 5
1. Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns
Paul's Suns have the best clutch record in the league. Phoenix was second in that category last year, and CP3's Oklahoma City Thunder were fourth in 2019-20. In the world of small-sample crunch time, that's as much consistency as you can ask for.
With Paul on the floor, the Suns are plus-99 in 78 clutch minutes. That reads like a joke, but opponents do a lot more crying than laughing when Paul orchestrates picture-perfect pick-and-rolls down the stretch of close games. It usually seems like the best-case scenario for a defense is to concede a Paul pull-up from the right elbow.
He ranks in the 100th percentile in accuracy on all mid-range shots at his position, which underscores the impossibility of stopping him in those situations.
Paul has taken only 39 clutch shots, which doesn't even rank in the top 30. But he's hit 56.4 percent of them, which ranks first among players who've attempted at least that many shots. He also leads the league with 28 clutch assists against just five turnovers. Remember, we're talking about 78 minutes against a dialed-in, "we know what's coming" defense. And Paul has coughed it up just five times.
Phoenix will have a hard time sustaining its late-game performance with Paul's thumb injury likely costing him the rest of the regular season. As you'll see in the shooting guard section, though, the Suns have a solid fall-back option.
2. Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
When times get tough, well, Morant takes matters into his own hands. He has just 10 clutch assists against eight turnovers, which marks quite a stylistic and statistical shift from the spring-loaded point guard's baseline approach. Morant is basically a two-to-one assist-to-turnover player, and his assist percentage of 32.9 drops to 19.6 in the clutch.
This is benevolent ball-hogging because Morant's downhill, shoot-first style is yielding results in the form of copious free throws. He's attempted 51 of them—the most among point guards by a considerable margin—in 101 clutch minutes and has hit them at an 82.4 percent clip. He ranks third in the NBA with 108 clutch points, 42 of which have come at the line.
Memphis is plus-41 and owns an 16-8 record with Morant on the floor in crunch time.
3. Reggie Jackson, Los Angeles Clippers
Jackson isn't on the superstar level of the previous two point guards, but he's been quietly instrumental in helping the Clippers to a 20-13 mark in close games. L.A. has an even better 18-11 clutch record in games Jackson has played.
The Clips are plus-35 in the clutch with the 31-year-old on the floor, due largely to his 86 points in 96 clutch minutes on a solid 45.8/36.8/75.8 shooting split. Jackson has 21 assists against just eight turnovers, and his 33 free-throw attempts are tied for fifth with Jayson Tatum and Trae Young for fifth leaguewide.
Shooting Guard
2 of 5
1. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Sure, Booker gets a lift from his backcourt compatriot's standing as the best clutch playmaker in the game. But don't let that detract from what the shooting guard does on his own in the moments that matter. Skim this clip, and you'll note only nine of Booker's 22 clutch baskets were directly set up by a teammate.
Booker is shooting an absurd 61.1 percent from the field in the last five minutes of close games, including 41.2 percent from deep. Nobody with at least as many as Booker's 36 clutch field-goal attempts has put forth anything close to his scoring efficiency.
A three-level scorer, Booker is uncommonly difficult to guard because he can manufacture shots from anywhere, no matter how tight the coverage. His size and strength allow him to create space, and he's comfortable pulling up in the mid-range area to score over contests.
Phoenix is plus-72 in the 68 clutch minutes Booker has played.
2. Desmond Bane, Memphis Grizzlies
Bane is the only player to shoot 47.0 percent or better from deep on at least 20 clutch attempts this season. He's at 52.4 percent from the field (22-of-42) in 102 clutch minutes, a relatively low attempt total for inclusion here. But Anthony Davis and DeMar DeRozan are the only players who've taken as many close-and-late shots as Bane and hit them at higher rates.
Morant's ability to collapse defenses plays into Bane's success to some degree. But scan his shot breakdown, and you'll see that four of his 11 made threes were pull-ups, while one was a step-back. Morant isn't spoon-feeding Bane catch-and-shoot looks.
3. Malik Monk, Los Angeles Lakers
As long as he doesn't have to do anything but shoot, Monk is a premium late-game scoring option. His plus-30 in the clutch is the best figure among all Lakers, and he's earned it with lights-out shooting. At 16-of-31 from the field and 8-of-18 from long distance, Monk boasts a remarkable 64.5 effective field-goal percentage.
For context, only Booker, Paul and Bane have higher field-goal percentages than Monk's 51.6 percent among guards who've scored at least 50 clutch points.
Imagine how much better Monk's already excellent clutch numbers would be if he'd made more than 12 of his 21 foul shots or evened out that one-to-six assist-to-turnover ratio.
Small Forward
3 of 5
1. Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls
Don't worry, we'll get to the Bulls player everyone expects to see in these rankings soon enough. For now, enjoy LaVine's 47.9/38.5/96.4 shooting split and Chicago's plus-18 plus-minus with him on the floor down the stretch.
LaVine hasn't been as accurate on pull-up threes as he was a year ago, but the threat of his quick rise-and-fire attempts forces defenders onto their toes. They know they have to cheat to bother his bouncy release from distance, and they sacrifice the balance necessary to stay in front on drives. You can see the trickle-down effect in LaVine's bloated free-throw total.
The only players with more clutch foul-shot attempts in 86 or fewer minutes (LaVine's total) are Young, Paul, Booker and James Harden.
Finally, just to illustrate how the stringent "crunch time" definition can be misleading, this dagger from LaVine effectively iced a game, but he gets no credit for it because the Bulls were up six when he shot it.
Lastly, it may seem strange to see LaVine listed at this position, but the Bulls have downsized all year, and Cleaning the Glass has him logging a matching 48 percent of his minutes at the 2 and the 3. He landed here because shooting guard was already crowded.
2. RJ Barrett, New York Knicks
Barrett is the first player we included whose team has a negative net rating in the last five minutes of close games when he's on the floor. That's a significant exception to make, and it requires proof that he's not the reason for his team's struggles.
His 60.0/57.1/75.0 shooting split takes care of that. Among those who've taken at least 30 clutch shots (at any position), only Booker and Jusuf Nurkic have done better than Barrett's 60.0 percent knockdown rate. And neither of them has one of this season's 11 game-winning buzzer-beaters.
You might recall Barrett does have such a shot on his resume.
3. Luke Kennard, Los Angeles Clippers
Kennard didn't match Reggie Miller's eight points in nine seconds (and he also didn't pull it off in a playoff game against a hated rival on the road), but he came close.
As part of a historic comeback from a 35-point hole, Kennard produced seven points in the final nine seconds. He drilled a 32-foot bomb to cut the Washington Wizards' lead to three with nine seconds remaining. Then, after the Wizards committed a five-second violation, he canned another triple while drawing a foul with 1.9 seconds remaining.
His free throw won the game.
It'd be a stretch to rank Kennard here on the strength of one performance alone. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, specifically, has a strong case to nab this spot. But Kennard is 8-of-13 from the field, 7-of-11 from distance and 6-of-7 from the foul line in clutch situations, helping the Clippers to a plus-27 mark in his 68 close-and-late minutes.
One standout performance got him noticed, but the numbers show the lefty belongs.
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Power Forward
4 of 5
1. DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls
The man of the hour last five minutes has arrived.
Chicago's small-ball looks have enabled DeRozan to operate on a mostly spaced floor as a power forward, and those alignments have powered up one of the most surprising MVP-caliber efforts of the 2021-22 season.
DeRozan is the only player with two game-winning buzzer-beaters this year, and they came on back-to-back nights. The first was a one-footed trey to deflate the Indiana Pacers on Dec. 31. The second, a heavily contested left-corner triple that required a double-clutch heave against the Wizards.
Every week, his legend grows. DeRozan racked up five points in the final minute to push the Bulls over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
"Too much DeRozan," Hawks head coach Nate McMillan told reporters.
On their own, those ice-cold shots might have been enough to get DeRozan the No. 1 spot among power forwards. But combined with a resume that includes a point total bettered only by Joel Embiid and league-high makes and attempts from the foul line, DeRozan would probably rank here even without his buzzer-beaters.
2. Kyle Kuzma, Washington Wizards
Fred VanVleet is the only player with more clutch three-pointers than Kuzma, but the Wizards forward seems to save his most cold-blooded makes for the waning seconds. Seriously, his catalog of closing-moments daggers is as deep as anyone's.
He's sucked the life out of Cleveland, Detroit and New York from beyond the arc. And though we've barely mentioned clutch defense (mostly because we don't have good stats to measure it), Kuzma also preserved a win over the Sixers with a pivotal block against the typically unstoppable Embiid.
3. Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets
It's no secret that Durant, a four-time scoring champ, can put up points. But he tends to ratchet up his offensive aggression when the stakes are high.
His scoring rate in the last five minutes of close games translates to 47.9 points per 100 possessions, the sixth-highest figure in the league (among players with at least 15 clutch situations) and second only to DeRozan at this position.
He can pull up from anywhere against smothering close-range contests or exploit that tight coverage with a blow-by drive.
Breaking news: Durant can put the ball in the basket, regardless of how close the score is or how many ticks are on the clock.
Center
5 of 5
1. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Embiid would be an MVP short-lister without his ridiculous clutch dominance, but those high-leverage numbers sure help his case.
The Sixers center leads all players with 127 close-and-late points. He's generated them with incredible accuracy from the field plus gaudy volume from the foul line. Only DeRozan has more foul-shot attempts in the clutch.
Embiid is too physically overpowering to handle anywhere near the basket, but the accuracy of his jumper (50.0 percent from the field, 45.0 percent from deep) means defenders can never give him space. When they try to body up, that's when he has them. No big man is better at exploiting tight coverage by creating contact.
Embiid also tops everyone with nine clutch blocks, which would give him the title of best two-way clutch player...if that existed.
2. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
As you would expect from the greatest big-man passer of all time, Jokic affects close games by doing more than scoring. He has two assists on game-deciding buckets. Here's a cross-court beauty over a double team that hits Aaron Gordon right in the shooting pocket, and here's a kickout to Monte Morris.
What you might not expect: Jokic has three blocks on opponents' potential game-winners.
A tight win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday provided another example of his non-scoring contributions, as Jokic set a controversial pick to free up Morris for a go-ahead trey and then was instrumental in stopping the Kings from responding, closing the possession with a critical rebound. Speaking of, Anthony Davis is the only player with more clutch boards than Jokic.
The battle for the top spot at this position was exceptionally close. It might be better to tag these two with "1A" and 1B," which feels appropriate since the MVP race will probably shake out that way, too.
3. Jusuf Nurkic, Portland Trail Blazers
Nurkic has played only 71 clutch minutes, and his plantar fasciitis means he's unlikely to close the volume gap between himself and the two big men ahead of him.
Remarkably, though, Nurkic is plus-37 in those minutes. Considering Portland's sub-.500 record and negative point differential (not to mention Damian Lillard's own prolonged injury absence), that's no small feat.
Nurkic is shooting 63.3 percent from the field in high-leverage situations and sits fourth in the league with 36 clutch boards, 15 of which have come on the offensive end.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Accurate through games played Sunday.
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