CHICAGO — Despite an inconsistent season where they are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, the Bulls have one player who is up for an end of season award by the National Basketball Association.

Oddly enough, it was in a category the team struggled in, but not this one player in particular.

Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan was named a finalist for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, which was announced before the team’s season ended with a play-in loss to Miami on Friday. A brand new honor for the 2022-2023 season, he’s the only member of the Bulls who is a finalist for an NBA award.

It’s given to a player who “best comes through for his teammates in the clutch” and is named after Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West. DeRozan is a finalist along with Jimmy Butler of the Heat and De’Aaron Fox of the Kings.

The guard, who has been named an All-Star in both of his seasons with the Bulls, averaged 4.7 points in “clutch” situations this season – which is defined by as minutes where the score is within five points with five or less minutes to go.

DeRozan was in that situation 34 times this year, according to NBA.com, hitting 47 percent of his shots. Fox averaged five points and 52.7 percent from the field in his 39 “clutch” situations this year while Butler had 3.5 points in 43 of those scenarios this season.

An All-Star reserve, DeRozan averaged 24.5 points in 74 games this season while shooting 50.4 percent from the floor with 5.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds per contest. The Bulls struggled with consistency all season and finished with an overall record of 41-43, beating the Raptors in their first play-in tournament game before losing to the Heat last Friday.