DeMar DeRozan has crashed the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award race.
The Chicago Bulls star has taken over for Stephen Curry as the odds-on favorite to take home the award after being an afterthought just days ago.
DeRozan has dominated during clutch minutes time after time for the Bulls, keeping the team in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament picture, but was 100/1 to win the award at BetMGM Sportsbook a month ago.
He has slowly crept up the odds board as he took over fourth quarters for Chicago, dropping to 33/1 on Feb. 27 and then moving to 14/1 a week ago.
Now, after DeRozan scored 46 points to lead the Bulls to a 132-129 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, it’s his award to lose.
DeRozan is currently a -195 at FanDuel Sportsbook with roughly a month to go in the NBA’s regular season.
Even before his impressive performance against Indiana, DeRozan has been taking over fourth quarters left and right.
In early March, the Bulls won three games in four nights over the Kings, Jazz and Warriors on the back of DeRozan’s late heroics.
On Feb. 28, he led Chicago to a double-overtime win over the Cavaliers, scoring 16 of his 35 points in the 10 extra minutes.
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DeRozan has scored the second-most points (161) in the NBA during clutch time, defined as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the game is within five points, on 52.2 percent shooting.
Because of DeRozan’s late-game dominance, the Bulls have been one of the best teams in the NBA in close games despite their mediocre 32-34 record heading into Thursday’s game against the Clippers.
The Bulls have 23 clutch wins, according to NBA.com, which is tied with the defending champion Nuggets for the most in the league.
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