Getty Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid guards Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has won a pair of Most Valuable Player awards during his 14-year NBA career. Curry took home the honor in back-to-back seasons, winning in both 2015 and 2016.
The 35-year-old star recently spoke about this season’s race for the award with Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes. Curry told Haynes that he feels that Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid should take home the MVP over Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets.
“I would say Joel,” Curry told Haynes. “Any person you pick, their body of work could be compared to Jokić or Giannis. But Joel took a leap that I think a lot of people didn’t expect because he was dominant already. That leap turned heads and put Philly in a great position. If I had to pick, it would be him.”
Embiid’s 76ers sit third in the Eastern Conference, trailing only the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks in the standings.
Philly’s big man is averaging 33.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steal per game, while Jokić is averaging 24.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 0.7 blocks and 1.2 steals.
Stephen Curry Speaks on Warriors’ Future
Curry also made an appearance on 95.7 The Game earlier this week. He joined Steiny & Guru for an interview, where he touched on the team’s future. Curry addressed rumors of both star forward Draymond Green, and general manager Bob Myers potentially leaving the organization this summer.
“I think we can all acknowledge and keep it real that had we not won a championship last year, then those questions would have been a lot more … everyday, I guess?” Curry said. “But when you prove that you can win, then you kind of hold off the dogs in terms of how hard it is to do what we’ve done and keep this together for as long as we have. I still feel like we can [keep everyone together]. Obviously, we understand how important Bob is, we understand how important Coach is, our core, Draymond, Klay [Thompson], myself, Andre [Iguodala], even though he’s had a rough year with injuries and what not, he’s been extremely valuable behind the scenes in helping maintain our culture.”
Stephen Curry Doesn’t Rule Out Championship for Warriors
Curry also touched on his expectations for this season’s Warriors team, when chatting with the hosts. He explained that Golden State has had to battle through growing pains all year, as well as their fair share of injuries, all while getting the best effort from opposing teams.
“This year we’ve had guys in a lot of different roles, some newcomer,” Curry continued. “For us to be the champs and have to take everybody’s best shot all year, some self-inflicted wounds that we’ve had, games we should have won — with all that said, absolutely [we can make a title run]. I feel like we are a team that’s a force and when we’re locked in on the specific test of trying to beat a team four times in a playoff series — obviously we need to get there and finish this year strong and hopefully stay out of the play-in [tournament] — that remains the same.”