Steph Curry had one of the best seasons of his 12-year career, winning his second scoring title and leading the Warriors to a play-in berth.
What Curry did on the court this season captured everybody's attention. Throughout a season full of ups and downs, the Warriors leaned on Steph more than they ever have. Unfortunately for Curry, it was not enough to secure his third MVP award.
Before Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić was crowned MVP on Tuesday, Warriors forward Draymond Green discussed why he believes Steph was the most deserving for the award.
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“I love basketball, and if you love basketball, it should have been Steph [Curry]," Green said on Shaquille O'Neal's "The Big Podcast." "And if you know basketball, it should be Steph.
“If the season was normal, we would have been in the playoffs. But what is the value, too? At the end of the day, our roster wasn’t the same, it wasn’t as good as the [Denver] Nuggets' roster. Our roster was not as good as the [Philadelphia 76ers] roster. If you’re going to say ‘oh, well that team had the best record and that guy is the best player on that team,’ that doesn’t work because all rosters aren’t the same."
Without Curry, the Warriors wouldn't have come close to securing a spot in the play-in tournament. They're a completely different team without him, as was the case the year prior.
"The same team that we were in the play-in game with at the eighth seed, that same team won 15 games last year when Steph Curry was hurt," Green continued. "Do you then look at that team and say ‘well that team is actually no different than the team last year and they won 15 games?’ To me, that is value, and that is a lot of value.”
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How the term "Most Valuable Player" is interpreted usually differs from person to person. Green believes the award should be given to the best player in the league, not the best player on the best team.
“You always see ‘oh, well that team has the best record and that guy is the best player,’ and you get guys winning MVP. But that doesn’t make you the most valuable player. In my opinion, Steph was the most valuable player in the league. He probably had the best year of any player in the NBA. In my opinion, he probably did and it wasn’t even close. The things he was doing were insane. That is the most valuable player.”
Curry, Draymond and the Warriors were unable to make a run deep into the playoffs this season. With the long-awaited return of Klay Thompson next season, maybe Curry will have another shot at the award.