Sacramento Kings All-Star De'Aaron Fox was named the first ever winner of the new Clutch Player of the Year award on Tuesday.

Fox, 25, enjoyed a breakout season as he led the Kings to their first playoff appearance since 2006, snapping what was the longest active postseason drought in any of the United States' top four professional sports.

The former fifth overall pick from the 2017 NBA Draft shot a career-best 51.2 per cent from the field while also making a career-high 1.6 three-pointers per game, averaging 25.0 points, 6.1 assists and 4.2 rebounds in the process.

But while he was excellent all year, Fox went up a level late in close games, leading the NBA with 192 'clutch' points – which means points scored in the last five minutes in a game where the margin is within five points.

In clutch situations, Fox led the league in usage rate, accounting for 42.8 per cent of the Kings' offensive possessions, all while putting up a strong true-shooting percentage of 61.4 per cent.

That 61.4 per cent figure is the eighth-best among all players with a clutch usage rate above 25 per cent, and when his clutch scoring rate is extrapolated out to a per-36 minutes number, his mark of 43.7 points per-36 is nearly five points ahead of second-placed Bradley Beal (38.9).

Fox earned 91 out of 100 possible first-place votes, and 460 out of a possible 500 total points to cruise to the award, which he was seen as the massive favourite to win. 

He was followed in the voting by Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler (one first-place vote, 104 total points) and Chicago Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan (80 total points).

Fox is the second recipient of the NBA's annual regular season awards, after Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr was named Defensive Player of the Year on Monday.