Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson wins 2020-21 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award
Clarkson earns Sixth Man of the Year
During the 2020-21 regular season, Clarkson, while playing 68 out of his 69 games as a substitute, averaged a career-best 18.4 points.
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 top votes and 407 total points from a worldwide panel of 100 sports journalists and broadcasters. His teammate, Utah forward Joe Ingles, secured second place with 272 points, including 34 top votes. This is the first instance that both top spots for the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award were held by teammates. New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose was third with 77 points, where he received one top vote.
Players received five points for every first-place vote, three points for every second-place vote, and one point for every third-place vote. In order to qualify for the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, players were required to have been substitutes in more games than they had started.
On Inside the NBA, Joe Ingles unexpectedly presents Jordan Clarkson with the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award.
Clarkson had an impressive career-high average of 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes over 68 games, with a single start. His average score of 18.3 points as a backup was the highest in the NBA. Clarkson hit a personal best of 208 three-pointers in total, ranking seventh among all NBA players, and a league-leading 203 as a reserve. His 203 three-pointers mark the fourth-highest single-season total for a player coming off the bench in NBA history. Additionally, he ranked ninth in the NBA for free throw percentage that season, achieving 89.6%.
In his first full season with Utah and his seventh in the NBA, Clarkson achieved two games scoring at least 40 points, five games scoring at least 30 points, and 23 games scoring at least 20 points as a bench player. He scored 40 points in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 15 and 41 points in a game against the Golden State Warriors on May 10. These two games contributed to the five 40-point games scored from the bench in the history of the Jazz.
What matters
Congrats, @jordanclarksons! pic.twitter.com/FVF6jkyqDz
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 25, 2021
Clarkson teamed up with Ingles to assist Utah in achieving the best NBA record of 52-20 and the fifth-highest single-season winning percentage (.722) in the team’s history. This impressive performance led to the Jazz securing the top 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.
