De'Aaron Fox early front-runner in NBA Clutch Player of the Year race

Award talk is always fun — or annoying, depending on where youland with The Discourse™. The NBA is filled with talent, giving usplenty to enjoy on a night-to-night basis. It also makes itincredibly tough to parse out awards.

Listing a top-five MVP ballot means "disrespecting" the sixthguy who didn't make it. There are at least five centers — BrookLopez, Bam Adebayo, Jarrett Allen, Nic Claxton and Joel Embiid —fighting for two All-Defensive center spots, and that'signoring Anthony Davis. This stuffistough,man.

If there's one award that may wind up being a landslide, it'sthe newly announced Clutch Player of the Year award.

We don't have an official guideline; the award's description issimply the "player who best comes through for his teammates in theclutch." It's vague, yet simple — reward the guy that makes bigplays when it matters.

(My hope is that it doesn't become the late-game version ofSixth Man of the Year, where the scoring leader wins regardless ofany other area of the game. In short: Scoring should matter, asshould playmaking and making big stops defensively.)

Let's put it out there now: This should be De'Aaron Fox's awardto lose.

He feels like an award casualty candidate in other discussions.His career year — 24.0 points on 59.3% True Shooting, 6.1 assists(2.6 turnovers), 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game — justhappens to coincide with Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Ja Morant,Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Damian Lillard and Devin Booker losingtheir minds individually. That's just in the Western Conference,which could complicate Fox's All-Star candidacy.

Add in Eastern Conference guards like Donovan Mitchell and JamesHarden, and the All-NBA conversation is going to be tough for Foxtoo.

Clutch Player of the Year, though? Fox has been inevitable.

In clutch time — which NBA.com defines as the last 5 minutes ofthe fourth quarter or overtime, with the score within 5 pointseither way — leads the NBA in made baskets(44) while converting a ridiculous 60.3% of his shots. Among 59players to attempt at least 30 clutch shots, Fox trails onlyBradley Beal (65.6% on 32 attempts) in efficiency.

(As a brief aside, have we forgotten how good Beal is? He'smissed games, and has taken a bit of a step back with Kyle Kuzmaand Kristaps Porzingis taking more ownership of the offense, butBeal is still slapping up 22-3-5 on 61.0% True Shooting. He'sconverting over 57.0% of his twos!)

Anyway, it starts with the drive for Fox, as it always does. Hehas a special ability to generate paint touches on a whim. He's oneof the five fastest players in the NBA; he knows that, hisopponents know that and he knows his opponents know that. Whatmakes Fox dangerous is how he leverages that speed by decelerating— it's like he's realm shifting out there when he puts on thebrakes.

That dichotomy makes him nearly impossible to stay in front of.At this point, it feels like we only see full-speed Fox in doses.Just thefear of him turning on the jets can throwdefenders off-balance. Because he's able to create fruitfuladvantages, he's a dominant paintscorerandsomeone who can involve others whenopponents toss too much attention his way.