A new chapter will be written in the storied rivalry between Steph Curry and LeBron James when the Warriors take on the Lakers in Wednesday’s highly anticipated play-in game.
At this point, there is little doubt that Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic will win the NBA MVP award after leading his team to the No. 3 seed in the West while averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists playing in all 72 games.
Steph Curry, who led the league in scoring, likely will finish in the top four in MVP voting and garner some first-place votes. The Warriors finishing with the West's eighth-best record hampered Curry's ability to win the MVP. But to Draymond Green, Curry has an open-and-shut case as to why he's the no-doubt most valuable player in the league.
"Like you said, he's definitely the most valuable player on this team. Also, the most valuable player in this league," Green told ESPN's Rachel Nichols ahead of Wednesday night's play-in game tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers. "With the way he's playing ... and this same exact team won 15 games a year ago. Here we are at 39-33 with a chance to be the seven seed. He is for sure the most valuable player in this league, and he's for sure had the better year of any one particular player in this league, for sure.
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"So, MVP for sure."
While Green's bias is obvious, he does make a good point. With Curry playing in just five games last season due to a broken hand, the Warriors sunk to the bottom of the league and earned the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Without Curry this season, the Warriors went 1-7, which included a 53-point loss to the Toronto Raptors.
With him, the Warriors were 38-26, good for a .587 winning percentage.
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Of course, we know the MVP award doesn't go to the player who is the most valuable. It usually goes to the best player on one of the best teams who has a compelling story. You could argue, and I would, that Curry's return to the spotlight, which included a historic month of April and concluded with him torching the Memphis Grizzlies to give the Warriors the No. 8 seed, is all the narrative you need.
That's not to say that Jokic hasn't been fantastic. He has been phenomenal and is a worthy MVP.
But it's clear that this season was all about Curry re-announcing himself to the basketball world and proving all of his doubters wrong. Washed? Nope. Can't do it by himself? Wrong again.
MVP? To some, there's no question.