Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson wins 2020-21 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award
Clarkson earns Sixth Man of the Year
In the 2020-21 regular season, Clarkson had a career-best average of 18.4 points, playing off the bench in 68 out of his 69 games.
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 was awarded 65 first-place votes and a total of 407 points from a worldwide panel of 100 sports journalists and broadcasters. His Utah teammate, Joe Ingles, secured the second place with 272 points, including 34 first-place votes. This is the first time in history that teammates have secured the top two spots in the voting for the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award. Derrick Rose, a guard for the New York Knicks, finished third with 77 points, including one first-place vote.
For each first-place vote, players received five points, three points for each second-place vote, and a single point for each third-place vote. To qualify for the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, players must have started fewer games than they played coming off the bench.
On Inside the NBA, Joe Ingles surprised Jordan Clarkson by presenting him with the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award.
In 68 games, with one start, Clarkson set a career record with an average of 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes per game. His 18.3 points average as a substitute was the highest in the NBA. Clarkson also managed to score a career-best 208 three-pointers, ranking him seventh in the NBA among all players and first as a reserve. His 203 three-pointers from the bench are the fourth highest in a single season in NBA history. He also stood ninth in the NBA for free throw percentage for the season, with an impressive 89.6%.
In his first complete season with Utah and seventh NBA season, Clarkson achieved two games scoring 40 or more points, five games with 30 or more points, and 23 games with 20 or more points as a bench player. He scored 40 points against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 15 and 41 points against the Golden State Warriors on May 10. These performances account for two of the five 40-point games from a bench player in Jazz history.
What matters
Congrats, @jordanclarksons! pic.twitter.com/FVF6jkyqDz
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 25, 2021
Clarkson, together with Ingles, played a significant role in helping Utah achieve the best NBA record of 52-20, marking the fifth-highest single-season winning percentage (.722) in the franchise’s history. Consequently, 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 46th 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.
