• ‍Jim Cummins: Rhythm of the game and the secret 'fifth frame'‍
• Ranked: Top 30 NBA Players of All-Time‍‍
• The seven most dominant NBA playoff runs ever

Is "Clutch" measured on the ability to make the last shot or dominant the biggest games on the biggest stage.

That's the challenge of putting together a list of the 25 Greatest Clutch Players in NBA history. Many of this list have done and continue to do both, some of this list have delivered one or the other.

One of the top 5 has almost as many rings as Bill Russell but is a role player with absolutely no fear to take and make some of the biggest shots in history.

The criteria for this list must be both: big shot makers, clutch bucket getters and clutch performances across 48 minutes. Hundreds of game-winning shots are made not by the player who dragged the team to that moment but delivering play after play when the pressure was at its most intense.

Both are "clutch" and both make this list.

These are the 25-1 Greatest Clutch Players in NBA history

25. Chauncey Billups

"Mr Big Shot" is an nickname earned, not simply given. Chauncey Billups, now 49, has landed in hot water post his playing career but during it, the point guard was almost a guaranteed splash or dime with the game on the line. During Detroit's run to six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals (2003-08), Billups became known for: late-game threes; end-of-quarter daggers; playoff shot-making; running the offense; and shooting a high percentage from the free-throw line. To exclude him from the list of Top 25 Clutch Players in NBA History because of his impending trial would cheat the list. His Finals MVP in 2004 as the Pistons stunned the Lakers was one of the all-time, every-play-matters performances.

24. Shaquille O'Neal

"The Big Aristotle" is not the player you want on the free throw line with no time left and being down by one. It's not to say he wouldn't make the pair to win the game but it would be a relief if the first one went in. But that shouldn't take away from the fact Shaq is clutch, maybe not in the final 10 seconds as some of those further down the list but in big games – championship games – there are few players in NBA history that were more clutch. Of course, there was the unforgettable (for Lakers fans) 10-foot turnaround baseline jumper against Utah in the Great Western Forum back in 1997 as his only recognised buzzer beater. His clutch performances were in the Finals. O'Neal won three Finals MVPs and three straight championships with the Lakers between 2000 and 2003.

2000 NBA Finals (Lakers)

• 38.0 points
• 16.7 rebounds
• 2.3 blocks
• Finals MVP

2001 NBA Finals (Lakers)

• 33.0 points
• 15.8 rebounds
• 4.8 assists
• Finals MVP

2002 NBA Finals (Lakers)

• 36.3 points
• 12.3 rebounds
• 3.8 assists
• Finals MVP

The reality is those numbers rarely needed a final shot to win the game.

23. Vinnie Johnson

"The Microwave" Vinnie Johnson called game in Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Finals as the Detroit Pistons went back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers on the road. That alone puts him on this list. The Pistons led the series 3-1 but Clyde Drexler's Blazers were fighting for survival. With scores tied at 90-90, Isiah Thomas waited for the final shot, kicked it to Johnson with 3.7 seconds left. The Microwave took a single dribble pull-up, right in the face of Portland's Jerome Kersey from about 15 feet. There was just 0.7 seconds left on the clock. Johnson was the ultimate game-breaker and closer off the bench. The late Chuck Daly would put Johnson in down the stretch and invariably he'd blow the game open with four or five straight shows ... hence, The Microwave.

22. Sam Jones

Recording game winners and clutch shots were not part of the basketball eco-system back when Sam Jones was hooping but if they were, Jones would be right in the mix. Bill Russell, the greatest winner in NBA history, often called Jones the Celtics' ultimate closer and his numbers do not lie: 10 championships; 154 playoff games; a remarkable 51 playoff series victories with an average of 17.4 points per game. You don't win 10 rings without being clutch.

21. Joe Johnson

"Iso Joe" Johnson is credited with among the most buzzer beaters in NBA history with eight. He doesn't have a championship on his resume but his ability to knock down big shots in the clutch is almost unparalleled. He finished his NBA career with eight game-winning buzzer-beaters, tied with Kobe Bryant for second-most in NBA history behind Michael Jordan's nine.

His most famous buzzer beater came in Game 1 of the 2017 first-round playoff series tied at 95-95, Johnson isolated on the left wing against Jamal Crawford, drove baseline and hit a fading jumper as the buzzer sounded to steal home-court advantage for Utah. It was his eighth career game-winning buzzer-beater and his only playoff buzzer-beater. For a clutch-performances feature, it's also worth noting Johnson had 12 game-winning shots in the final 10 seconds during his career, one of the highest totals of his era.

20. Kawhi Leonard

"The Klaw" Kawhi Leonard's Game 7 winner for the Toronto against the Philadelphia 76ers on May 12, 2019 remains the only Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history and is widely regarded as one of the greatest clutch shots ever. Leonard's reputation was forged in the playoffs with the San Antonio Spurs, where he won NBA Finals MVP in 2014 after averaging 17.8 points and guarding LeBron James during the Spurs' championship victory over the Miami Heat.

His clutch legend grew in 2017 when he scored 22 fourth-quarter and overtime points against the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-finals despite badly rolling his ankle earlier in the game. Clutch isn't always about scoring buckets, Leonard also came up with a game-changing one-finger block against the Denver Nuggets in the Bubble back in 2020.

19. Damian Lillard

"Dame Time" is etched in NBA folklore forever more. Roll the tape on the 37-foot three-pointer over Paul George as time expired to lift the Portland Trail Blazers over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019 playoffs. With the score tied 115-115 in Game 5, Lillard famously waved goodbye as he completed a 50-point performance. Lillard's legacy is built on his willingness to take – and make – the biggest shot on the floor. Few players have combined volume scoring, long-range shooting and late-game confidence at the level he sustained throughout his prime.

18. Isiah Thomas

"Zeke" was a killer. and while he does not own the volume of buzzer-beaters as Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, Thomas was one of the NBA's most feared fourth-quarter performers and remains one of the greatest clutch point guards in league history. Look no further than one of the most extraordinary NBA Finals performances in history. Thomas badly sprained his ankle in Game 6 of the 1988 Finals on June 19, 1988. He came back and scored an NBA Finals record 25 points in the third quarter, finishing with 43 points and eight assists on an ankle he could barely stand on. Detroit lost 103-102 and lost the series in seven. It remains one of the most admired individual performances in Finals history, and the reason Thomas belongs here is that the ankle did not change what he did with the game in the balance – it simply made it obvious.

17. Paul Pierce

"The Truth" Paul Pierce earned the title in the biggest games. In Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference semi-finals against Cleveland, Pierce scored 41 points and LeBron James scored 45, and Boston won 97-92 – a duel that decided a championship season. Pierce went on to take the Finals MVP against the Lakers that June. Six years earlier, in Game 3 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, he had scored 19 points in the fourth quarter as Boston erased a 21-point deficit against New Jersey. Pierce, now 48, built his reputation on being the man his team ran everything through when the margin was thinnest.

16. Kevin Durant

Future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant, 37, produced the single most efficient answer to a hostile road crowd this century. In Game 3 of the 2017 Finals in Cleveland, with the score level and 45.3 seconds left, he pulled up from about 26 feet over James and put Golden State 3-0 up. He won Finals MVP that year and again in 2018. In Game 5 of the 2021 Eastern Conference semi-finals he put up 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists for Brooklyn against Milwaukee, playing all 48 minutes. He was just a half a shoe length away from ending the Bucks' season. At 2.11m with a guard's release, Durant is the rare player for whom a contested shot and an open one are close to the same shot.

15. Hakeem Olajuwon

"The Dream" Hakeem Olajuwon won back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995 and was Finals MVP both times, but the play that defines him is a defensive one. In Game 6 of the 1994 Finals, with Houston leading 86-84 in the closing seconds, Olajuwon got his fingertips to John Starks' three-point attempt to force Game 7. A year later, seeded sixth, the Rockets swept Orlando. Olajuwon was the centre of a champion at both ends of the floor, which almost nobody on this list can claim. His legendary dismantling of David Robinson in the 1995 Western Conference Finals stands as one of the most ruthless individual playoff performances in NBA history after Robinson was awarded the MVP before Game 2.

14. Tim Duncan

"The Big Fundamental" Tim Duncan closed out the 2003 Finals with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and eight blocks – two blocks short of a quadruple-double – as San Antonio came from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to beat New Jersey 88-77. Duncan, 50, won five championships and three Finals MVPs across three different eras of Spurs basketball. He never looked like he was trying to be clutch, which is exactly why he was.

13. Magic Johnson

On May 16, 1980, a 20-year-old rookie started Game 6 of the Finals at centre because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could not play, and scored 42 points with 15 rebounds and seven assists to win the championship in Philadelphia. It is still the most improbable Finals performance on record. Seven years later Johnson beat Boston in Game 4 with a running junior skyhook with two seconds left, 107-106, at the Garden. Johnson spent his career being handed impossible assignments in the biggest games and treating them as normal.

12. Dirk Nowitzki

Nowitzki dragged a team nobody favoured to a championship. In Game 2 of the 2011 Finals, Dallas trailed Miami by 15 with under seven minutes to play; Nowitzki scored the winning left-handed layup with 3.6 seconds left for a 95-93 win that turned the series. He played Game 4 with a fever and delivered the fourth quarter anyway. Five years earlier, in Game 7 against San Antonio, he had scored through contact with about 21 seconds remaining to force overtime. A 2.13m shooter with an unblockable one-legged fadeaway is a genuinely unsolvable late-game problem.

11. Ray Allen

One shot carries this entry and it is enough. Game 6 of the 2013 Finals, June 18, Miami trailing by three, Allen back-pedalling to the right corner and releasing with 5.2 seconds left to force overtime. The Heat won 103-100 and took Game 7. Allen retired as the NBA's all-time three-point leader and won championships in Boston and Miami, but he is on this list because he took the hardest shot in the sport at the hardest moment available and made it look procedural.

10. Bill Russell

Eleven championships in 13 seasons, and a perfect 10-0 record in Game 7s – the most Game 7 wins without a defeat in league history. In Game 7 of the 1962 Finals against the Lakers, Russell had 30 points and 40 rebounds in an overtime win. In Game 7 of the 1969 Finals he beat the Lakers in Los Angeles as a 35-year-old player-coach. Russell, who died in 2022 aged 88, is the answer to the question of what clutch looks like across a career rather than a possession.

9. Reggie Miller

Eight points in 8.9 seconds. On May 7, 1995, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals at Madison Square Garden, Miller turned a six-point deficit into a 107-105 Indiana win. A year earlier he had scored 25 points in the fourth quarter in the same building. Miller never won a championship, and it does not weaken his case – he is the clearest evidence on this list that clutch and winning are related but not the same thing.

8. LeBron James

The defining clutch play of Lebron James' career is a block. Game 7 of the 2016 Finals, scores level with under two minutes left, James running down Andre Iguodala and pinning the layup against the glass – the play that finished a 3-1 comeback and delivered Cleveland its first championship. James, 41, has four championships and four Finals MVPs. In Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, facing elimination in Boston, he scored 45. He is ranked here rather than higher because his greatness is distributed across 48 minutes and four decades of the calendar, not concentrated in the final possession.

7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

On May 10, 1974, at Boston Garden, Abdul-Jabbar won Game 6 of the Finals with a skyhook with three seconds left in double overtime, 102-101. That is the headline, but the deeper point is that he spent 20 seasons holding a shot no defender ever solved, which meant the final possession was never a gamble. Abdul-Jabbar’s two clutch free throws in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals sealed a 103-102 victory for the Los Angeles Lakers despite the whistle on Bill Laimbeer that put him on the line remains one of the most heavily debated "phantom foul" calls in basketball history. Regardless of the foul or no foul, he knocked down two of the biggest free throws in Lakers history. Six championships, six MVPs, and a Finals MVP in 1985 at the age of 38. Abdul-Jabbar had the most reliable pressure shot in the sport's history.

6. Jerry West

The nickname is Jerry West's entry. "Mr Clutch" was not marketing – West made a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to force overtime in Game 3 of the 1970 Finals against New York, and he remains the only player to be named Finals MVP while playing for the losing team, in 1969. His silhouette is the NBA logo. West, who died in 2024 aged 86, set the standard everyone below him is measured against.

5. Robert Horry

"Big Shot Bob" is the player the introduction to this list was written about: seven championships to Bill Russell's eleven, and not once the best player on the floor. Two with Houston, three with the Lakers, two with San Antonio. In Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals he caught a loose ball at the arc and beat Sacramento at the buzzer, 100-99. In Game 5 of the 2005 Finals at Detroit he scored 21 points – 18 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime – including the go-ahead three with 5.9 seconds left in overtime to win 96-95. Horry is proof that fearlessness is a skill, and that it can be the whole job.

4. Stephen Curry

Curry changed where the clutch shot is taken from. With the 2022 Finals level and Golden State facing a 1-3 hole, he scored 43 points in Game 4 in Boston and went on to win his first Finals MVP. His signature is the shot defences cannot legislate for: he beat Oklahoma City in overtime from 37 feet in February 2016, a distance that had not previously been part of the conversation. Four championships, and a gravity that creates open shots for teammates even when he does not touch the ball. His iconic shot from the Olympic Games is known as the "Golden Dagger," which he hit during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to secure the gold medal for Team USA against France.

3. Kobe Bryant

Eight game-winning buzzer-beaters, tied with Joe Johnson and one behind Michael Jordan. Bryant took shots other players declined to take, and accepted the misses as the price. In Game 4 of the 2006 first round against Phoenix he tied the game at the end of regulation and won it in overtime. In Game 4 of the 2000 Finals he closed out overtime after Shaquille O'Neal fouled out, in his fourth season. Five championships, two Finals MVPs. Bryant, who died in 2020 aged 41, treated the last shot as a responsibility rather than a risk.

2. Michael Jordan

Nine game-winning buzzer-beaters, more than anyone in NBA history. Two of them are enshrined: the jumper over Craig Ehlo to eliminate Cleveland on May 7, 1989, and the shot over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds left in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals to win a sixth championship in Utah. Jordan went 6-0 in the Finals and was Finals MVP every time. He scored 38 points in Game 5 of the 1997 Finals while barely able to stand. Jordan, 63, is the most complete case on this list – the shot-maker and the 48-minute performer in one player.

1. Larry Bird

"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I'd choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I'd take Larry Bird." Those are the words of Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley.

"Larry Legend" spent 13 seasons proving him right, and the clearest evidence came on a night when his own bench tried to take it away from him.

He did it against Riley's Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals over Magic Johnson, against Dallas, Portland, Detroit, on the Seattle Sonics – telling Xavier Daniels when and form where he was going to shoot from – he did it on Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen's Bulls, and on Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers.

November 7, 1987, at the Capital Centre. Boston trailed Washington by three inside the last half-minute. Bird buried the three that levelled it – and it never counted, because K.C. Jones had signalled for a timeout a heartbeat before the release.

Seven seconds left when play resumed. Still down three. Boston inbounded to Bird, because there was never a version where they inbounded to anyone else. He made the same shot again, this time against a defence that had just been handed a timeout to prepare for it.

Then, in the second overtime, he scored again as the buzzer sounded. Boston won 140-139. Bird finished with 47 points.

Six months earlier came the play that settles the ranking. May 26, 1987, Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston trailing Detroit by one in the closing seconds, the ball being inbounded to end the season. Bird read it, stole it, and while falling out of bounds found Dennis Johnson cutting to the basket for the layup with one second left. Boston won 108-107.

That play is why he is first. Every other player on this list beat you by scoring. Bird beat you by scoring, by passing, and – in the single most desperate moment of a season – by taking the ball off you. He won three championships and three consecutive MVPs from 1984 to 1986, and he did it while telling opponents in advance what he intended to do to them.

Bird is top of this list because clutch, at its highest expression, is not a shot. It is refusing to accept that the game is over.

About the Author

Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women’s Youth League team in the Waratah Basketball League in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women’s team in the NBL East Conference. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory’s senior men’s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA. Basketball is his passion — and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au with feedback. Any email feedback on articles sent to Peter can be published on basketball.com.au for others to read.