Each NBA team’s most clutch player of all-time

Most clutch player in Los Angeles Lakers history: Jerry West

The Los Angeles Lakers have amassed so many titles, so many trips to the NBA Finals, so many playoff appearances that selecting just one player as the most clutch is an exercise in futility. Kobe Bryant cultivated his entire persona on the idea that he was deadly in the clutch. Robert Horry and Derek Fisher each hit huge game winners en route to titles. Magic Johnson won five titles and his fair share of clutch shots and clutch moments, including starting at center for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in an NBA Finals game.

Out of the mass of talent comes one specific player, the one so respected by his peers that they called him the original Mr. Clutch. Jerry West, The Logo, was the driving force for Lakers teams that were annually in the NBA Finals. When the game was tight no one in the organization wanted the ball anywhere but in West’s hands.

Key Moment: In Game 3 of the 1962 NBA Finals, the Lakers had tied the game and needed to stop Boston from scoring in order to force overtime. It was West’s first showdown with the Celtics, a team he would face many times over the next decade. Knowing the Celtics would try to get the ball to elite point guard Bob Cousy, West stayed between Cousy and the inbounder and made a break on the ball when it was thrown into play.

West tapped the ball away, then gained possession and raced down the court as the clock ticked towards zero. He released a finger roll just before time expired that bounced home, giving the Lakers the victory and West one of his first clutch moments for the Lakers.