Eye-opening stat shows why Fox deserves NBA Clutch Player award

The Los Angeles Clippers entered the final three minutes of Friday night's game at Crypto.com Arena with an 11-point lead and a win on the horizon.

But De'Aaron Fox had other plans.

The Kings' All-Star guard again proved why he deserves to win the inaugural Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year award this season, helping Sacramento overcome its fourth-quarter deficit against Los Angeles and ultimately walk away with a historic 176-175 win in double overtime.

Fox leads the NBA in clutch points this season, and 15 of his season-high 42 points Friday came in the fourth quarter and two overtime periods. But scoring isn't the only category in which Fox has made an impact.

Fox on Friday became just the 12th NBA player since 1973-74 with at least 40 points, 10 assists and five steals in a game -- and he was rewarded with the Kings' DPOG chain after the historic win.

Not long after the beam had been lit above Golden 1 Center back in Sacramento, Kings coach Mike Brown applauded his star point guard's efforts in the clutch against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

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"Foxy, he's unbelievable," Brown told reporters after the win. "He was unbelievable from the standpoint that we were down, I don't know, it seemed like we were down 20, but it might only have been 10, nine. ... We were down 14, and he had two, maybe three, maybe four just huge steals where he got up into the ball and pressured the ball and got deflection after deflection after deflection that turned into points.

"And then, obviously, his ability to score for us was huge. The 42 points was unbelievable."

Fox has shown time after time this season that he's one of the league's most dependable clutch players. And while the guard certainly has other things on his mind -- like leading the Kings to the NBA playoffs for the first time in 16 years -- it might be time for Fox to start clearing a space on his trophy shelf.