NBA Steph Curry speaks to reporters after the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals.
Steph Curry may have just led the Golden State Warriors to their fourth title in the last eight seasons, but NBA general managers don’t believe he’s MVP material in the coming season.
NBA.com’s annual survey of GMs found that while the Warriors remained among the favorites to win the title in the upcoming season, Curry was far down the list of expected MVP candidates. Curry did still get plenty of respect when it came to forcing other teams to change their game plans and position rankings, but a Western Conference rival drew the most vote for the league’s most valuable player.
Curry Notches Just One Vote
The survey found that Dallas Mavericks guard Luca Doncic was the favorite to win MVP in the coming season, netting 48 percent of the vote. Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo was next with 34 percent, followed by Joel Embiid with 14 percent. Curry was the only other player on the board, receiving just one total vote that gave him 3 percent.
When asked what player they would pick to build a franchise around, the top two remained the same, with Antetokounmpo garnering 55 percent of the vote and Doncic getting the remaining 45 percent. Curry was picked first when asked what player forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments, getting a whopping 52 percent of the vote. He was also the top vote-getting for the league’s best point guard.
The Bucks were the top pick to win the 2023 NBA Finals, netting 43 percent of the vote, but the Warriors were the second-highest pick with 25 percent of all votes. A total of 48 percent of general managers picked the Warriors to finish first in the Western Conference, tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for the highest total.
Steph Curry was the leading vote-getter in several categories on the NBA App GM Survey 👨🏽🍳
General managers are not always the most accurate prognosticators. Kevin Durant was the top pick to win league MVP last season, while 80 percent of general managers had picked the Los Angeles Lakers to win the Western Conference. The Lakers finished in 11th place with a 33-49 record.
Curry Ready to Defend Title
The Warriors are coming off a season where many experts predicted they would finish outside the playoff bracket. They came into the 2021-22 season having missed the playoffs in each of the two previous seasons, and it was uncertain whether Klay Thompson could return to form after two straight years lost to major injuries.
The Warriors instead returned to their dominant form, finishing third overall and marching through the Western Conference playoffs before taking down the Boston Celtics in six games to win the title.
Curry, who won his first NBA Finals MVP in the series, said he’s excited to get back on the court to defend their title.
Steph Curry’s transition three ball is perfection 💦
“And embracing it. My 14th year. I feel fresh and prime, ready to go,” Curry said in an October 2 interview. “I feel like in my head still getting better, trying to feed off that. Understand it’s a long journey and we are doing some defensive strategy and stuff like that yesterday, and it kind of felt for a second we were still preparing for the Celtics and the finals series because it didn’t feel like that long ago.”