Getty Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry warms up before a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Without question, Stephen Curry isn’t having the kind of season he’s accustomed to as a shooter. If not for his injury-plagued 2019-20 campaign, he’d be at career-low marks from the field and from distance. However, he has nonetheless been the point-man for the Golden State Warriors‘ resurgent season.
More than that, though, he’s been a popular pick to bring home the NBA MVP trophy at the end of the year. And his numbers make a strong case for the honor.
As of this writing, he’s averaging 26.8 points, 6.1 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He’s also still connecting on 38.4% of his triples, which may be below his standard, but is still well beyond the league average. Then there’s the most important number — the Warriors’ 30-10 record amid injuries and COVID-19 outbreaks.
In spite of all that, though, Bill Simmons just made some curious statements about his MVP candidacy.
Simmons Speaks out on Steph’s MVP Odds
During a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the hoops pundit weighed in on the MVP debate. Simmons noted that FanDuel currently has Curry as their favorite to win the award (then as a +140 pick), but followed that up with the following appraisal of Steph’s season:
“I know we penciled him in as First-Team All-NBA, but he’s actually not having like an awesome, Steph Curry season from a statistical standpoint,” Simmons said.
“My point is, he’s the MVP favorite but I don’t feel like he’s having one of his greatest seasons. I think his team is succeeding. But I don’t think — unless he picks it up and goes on one of those Steph streaks — I don’t see him winning the MVP with what we’ve seen in the first 40 games.”
As Simmons sees it, Curry has an MVP story, but that may not result in him bringing home the hardware.
“Steph won the first half narrative MVP, but it’s a long season,” Simmons said. “And people get bored with narratives and they make new narratives. We’ve seen it over and over again.”
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Join Heavy on Warriors!Curry’s Numbers Are Still Incredible
Shooting struggles aside, Curry continues to do things that almost no one else in the Association is doing. Where his raw stat line is concerned, he’s one of just three players league-wide to be at 26-6-5-1 or better. The other two are LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Curry is also the most positive player in the NBA from a plus/minus standpoint. Golden State has outscored opponents by 403 points over his 1290 minutes on the court. Meanwhile, he boasts an otherworldly net swing of 19.8, ranks fourth league-wide in VORP (2.9) and is seventh in box plus/minus (7.0).
And he has managed all of this while getting pounded by opposing defenses on a nightly basis.
Or, as Simmons put it: “I do think teams load up on him in the craziest ways… He gets mauled every game. He’s almost like a running back where the other team is just putting eight guys on the line because they know you’re going to be handing off to this guy 25 times a game. Every single possession is a struggle for him.”
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Analyst Serves up Hot Take on Steph Curry’s MVP Candidacy