Steph Curry has had one of if not the greatest season of his career in a season most expected him to be exposed in with a lack of talent surrounding him. Nikola Jokic appears to be the MVP this season, but Curry’s stats and impact make him a sizeable foe for the MVP award.
Steph Curry this season averaged thirty-two points per game on thirty-four minutes per game, an incredibly efficient stat for Curry. In a shortened season of seventy-two games, Curry played in sixty-three of the games. While Curry won back-to-back MVP awards, one being unanimous, this is the most points he has averaged in his career for a season, at the age of thirty-two. Curry was also only 2% away from joining the 50-40-90 club (50% from the field, 40% from three, 90% from the free-throw line) for the second time in his career. Curry also averaged five rebounds per game, a career high for Steph, as well as almost six assists per game. This year was also the most attempted three pointers of his career, averaging 12.7 threes shot a game, making 42% of them. At the age of thirty-two, Steph Curry had unbelievable stats, also winning the scoring title for the season. Let’s compare some stats to head MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.
Nikola played nine more games than Steph Curry, playing all seventy-two this season. Nikola Jokic averaged twenty-six points per game, a career high for the big man. Curry averaged a whole six points more than him with thirty-two a game. Nikola Jokic averaged over ten rebounds a game, double Curry’s numbers, but it is expected with Jokic being more than six inches taller. Jokic shot 38% from three this year, four percent less than Steph. While Jokic averaged 58% from the field, a whole ten percent higher than Curry, again, his position is different in comparison. Now Nikola Jokic had an amazing season, no doubt, but this feels like a Kobe vs Nash MVP debate we had only a decade ago, but even closer than theirs. Curry has the insane numbers, the biggest thing Jokic has over Curry would be his seeding and record. The Nuggets went 47-25 this season, good enough for the third seed in the Western Conference. The Warriors went 39-33, getting the eighth seed, good enough to play LeBron James and the Lakers in the play-in round. Most people look at this and say how much better it is that the Nuggets and Jokic had a better record, especially without Jamal Murray, but after looking at the Warriors dilemma, this almost works in his favor.
By Steph Curry only getting the eighth seed and only winning thirty-nine games, it makes him look even better. With the injury that lost them Klay Thompson and the loss of James Wiseman, this had been Curry’s team, his next best player being Draymond Green. By definition, Curry is the most valuable player on his team, and without him they would’ve been right back in the lottery. Curry deserves the MVP, putting up the stats to show for it, and if it wasn’t a shortened season who knows what seed Golden State would be and the stats both Jokic and Curry put up, but I firmly believe the MVP this season should be Stephen Curry. Thank you for reading my take on the MVP race with Steph, Shaney out.
TheDyspatch 