By Ken Cheng
In an NBA landscape ruled by a King and more crowded with elite talent than ever before, Stephen Curry has found a way to do something few others have managed: stand out. Recently, Curry has supplemented the debut of his first signature shoe (the Curry One by Under Armour) and his first campaign as a spokesperson for retail giant, Express, with an appearance on “The Tonight Show” and a meeting with President Obama. These major media opportunities are becoming increasingly common for the Curry Brand, and that’s not taking into account his near nightly inclusion in Sports Center and YouTube highlight packages. Curry’s combination of dazzling play and salt-of-the-Earth marketability has lifted him beyond the realm of “very popular athlete” and onto the level of mainstream, name brand, “superstar.” But making a case for Curry’s elevation above his peers when it comes to the purely basketball-related league MVP conversation has been more debatable.
Depending who you ask, the current MVP race seems to boil down to some order of James Harden, Curry, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and, perhaps, Anthony Davis. Harden is at or near the top of almost every offensive statistical category while leading the Rockets to a 39-18 record, despite not having Dwight Howard for large chunks of the season. James, it could be argued, is the MVP of the NBA every year. Davis is having an historical statistical season while mired in the cesspool of basketball mediocrity that is the Monty Williams-coached New Orleans Pelicans. These are all valid points and it’s right that each of these players, Harden especially, be considered MVP frontrunners with nearly 3/4 of the season complete.
While no one would argue that Curry is having an MVP-level season, the most common knock against his candidacy seems to be the higher quality of talent Curry plays with (the most notable being his fellow All-Star Splash Brother) in relation to the other candidates. But denigrating Curry’s MVP worthiness by citing how good his teammates and coaching staff are is a textbook example of fallacious circular logic. It’s like saying Bryan Cranston didn’t deserve to win any Best Actor awards for playing Walter White because “Breaking Bad” was the best show on TV and had such good writing and supporting actors.
There is no doubt that the Warriors have been the deepest, most well rounded, team in the league this season. What’s also true, however, is that most of the Warriors’ team-wide accolades are due, in large part, to Curry’s superlative play and overall value to the team. The “big picture” stats supporting this are easily found. Curry ranks #1 in season-long +/-, +/- per game, +/- per 36, and Real +/- (ESPN’s proprietary metric) – metrics all designed to measure a player’s overall, individual, impact on his team.
The results have been evident; Curry’s play has brought the Warriors to the best record in the NBA, the league’s best Net Rating, and the league’s best Point Differential (among other team-wide categories) while ranking near the top of every major individual stat as well. Curry is undoubtedly the best player on what is undoubtedly the best team in the league. What’s more, the margin between the Warriors and their next closest competitors in these team-wide categories isn’t even close in many cases. Think about it this way: Curry has made the Warriors so much better than everyone else while he’s been on the court, that he has effectively reduced their need to have him on the court for every minute of the game. All those individual statistical categories Curry’s been hanging out near the top of all season? He’s gotten there despite being only 34th in the league in minutes played.
Only time will tell how the rest of this regular season unfolds. Maybe Curry will win the MVP when it’s all said and done; maybe he won’t. Maybe one of the other MVP frontrunners will play at such a high level over the remaining stretch, that the debate around who deserves it most will become moot. But as the Warriors prepare to take on the King in his own castle later this evening (for what could very well be an NBA Finals preview), it’s worth appreciating just how fully Stephen Curry has blossomed into the roles of transcendent superstar and leader of the best team in basketball.