Trio of former SEC stars named finalists for NBA Clutch Player of the Year
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A trio of former SEC basketball standouts who’ve established themselves as NBA stars comprised the list of 3 finalists announced on Sunday for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year award.
The SEC-turned-NBA roll call is headlined by former Kentucky star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is the reigning NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP after leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first NBA championship last June.
Gilgeous-Alexander, a 4-time NBA All-Star who’s trying to power the Thunder to a repeat this spring, was joined as a finalist for the clutch award by fellow former Kentucky standout Jamal Murray, who has an NBA title ring himself after helping the Denver Nuggets capture the championship in 2023.
And joining Gilgeous-Alexander and Murray as a finalist on Sunday is former Georgia standout Anthony Edwards, who like Gilgeous-Alexander and Murray has established himself as one of the top guards in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In a sign of the times, all 3 ex-SEC stars were only with their chosen SEC program for 1 season. Gilgeous-Alexander was a second-team All-SEC selection during the 2017-18 season, Murray was a first-team All-SEC pick during the 2015-16 campaign, and Edwards was a second-team All-SEC selection in the 2019-20 season.
All it took was 1 season in the SEC for the trio to launch themselves into the NBA, and the results have been spectacular in Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota. The trio are in each other’s way this spring as they fight to get their teams out of the Western Conference and into the NBA Finals. Turns out they’ll also be fighting each other for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year award.
The trio of former SEC stars is making the conference proud by owning the finalist list for NBA Clutch Player of the Year, but somebody has to win. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about who has the inside track on capturing the clutch award:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
