There was no drama in if Stephen Curry would be named NBA MVP for the second year in a row.
The only question was whether he would be the first unanimous MVP in league history. Getting 131 NBA media members to agree on something is about as easy as getting Congress to agree on anything.
But it happened: Stephen Curry was the unanimous choice as NBA MVP, the league announced Tuesday. (You have to wonder how the names of the voters and how they voted being made public impacted this. In another era would someone have voted for LeBron James just to make sure it wasn’t unanimous, knowing there were no repercussions? Now they would have to defend that vote.)
Curry is the 11th back-to-back winner of the award.
It was fitting the award came a night after Curry put on a show in Portland that shows why he won the award. This season Curry averaged 30.1 points per game, shot 45.4 percent from three and hit a record 402 of them, dished out 6.7 assists per night, shot 90.7 percent from the free throw line, played solid defense, led the league in PER (31.5) and true shooting percentage (66.9 percent), and this list could go on and on. Just his presence on the court fuels the Warriors offense because at least one defender can’t help off him regardless of where he is on the court, and when he gets the ball he quickly draws the entire defense to his side.
Kawhi Leonard of the Spurs came in second, followed by LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant.
Here is the full finishing order, with first place votes in parenthesis:
Stephen Curry, Golden State (131)
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio
LeBron James, Cleveland
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City
Chris Paul, L.A. Clippers
Draymond Green, Golden State
Damian Lillard, Portland
James Harden, Houston
Kyle Lowry, Toronto
