Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson wins 2020-21 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award

NEW YORK, May 24, 2021 – Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson has won the 2020-21 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award for his contributions in a reserve role, the NBA announced today.  This is the first Sixth Man honor for Clarkson, who becomes the first player to win the annual award with the Jazz.

Clarkson garnered 65 first-place votes and a total of 407 points from an international panel of 100 sports journalists and broadcasters. His Utah teammate, forward Joe Ingles, came in second with 272 points, including 34 first-place votes. This marks the first time in history that the top two spots in the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award voting were held by teammates. New York Knicks guard, Derrick Rose, secured the third position with 77 points, out of which one was a first-place vote.

To qualify for the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, players needed to have participated in more games as substitutes than as starters. Scoring for the award was based on voting, with five points given for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote, and one point for each third-place vote.

In his career-best average, Clarkson scored 18.4 points, made 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes over 68 games (with one start). His 18.3 points scoring average as a substitute was the top in the NBA. He also made a personal best of 208 three-pointers overall (ranking seventh among all NBA players) and a league-leading 203 as a substitute. The 203 three-pointers mark the fourth highest single-season total for a substitute in NBA history. Additionally, Clarkson ranked ninth in free throw percentage for the season (89.6).

In his first complete season with Utah and his seventh NBA season, Clarkson scored at least 40 points in two games, at least 30 points in five games, and at least 20 points in 23 games as a substitute. He managed to score 40 points against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 15 and 41 points against the Golden State Warriors on May 10. This made him one of only five players in Jazz history to score 40 points in a game as a substitute.

What matters

Congrats, @jordanclarksons! pic.twitter.com/FVF6jkyqDz

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 25, 2021

Clarkson, alongside Ingles, contributed to Utah’s achievement of an NBA-leading 52-20 record and the franchise’s fifth-best single-season winning percentage (.722) in history. The Jazz secured the number one seed in the Western Conference for the 2021 NBA Playoffs.

Clarkson, 28, was acquired by Utah in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 24, 2019.  He re-signed with the Jazz on Nov. 23, 2020.  Clarkson, the 46^th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, has career averages of 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 521 games.  He played with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cavaliers before joining the Jazz.

The voting results for the 2020-21 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award are below.  The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.  Complete ballots for each voter will be posted at PR.NBA.com after the announcement of all end-of-season awards.