The NBA officially belongs to Stephen Curry.
On Tuesday, Curry was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. In case that wasn’t impressive enough, the Golden State Warriors star also became the first unanimous MVP in NBA history.
Curry averaged an incredible 30.1 points, 6.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game this season. He also averaged a career-high 5.4 rebounds per game. Curry swept all 131 votes — 130 from sportswriters and one from the Kia MVP fan vote. Kawhi Leonard got the most second-place votes, followed by LeBron James.
The timing of the award being announced was very appropriate, as Curry returned to action on Monday night and dropped 40 points in a Game 4 win over the Portland Trailblazers, 17 of which came in overtime.
Prior to Curry’s achievement, LeBron and Shaquille O’Neal were the closest ever to being named unanimous MVPs. Shaq fell one vote shy in 2000 and the same happened to James three seasons ago.
The NBA MVP award has been around since the 1955-56 season. Think of all the incredible players who have come and gone since then — Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and plenty of other legends. At least one writer almost always plays devil’s advocate by voting for a choice that isn’t as obvious. The fact that not a single person did that this year tells you all you need to know about the way Curry has played over the past two seasons.
