Stephen Curry took home last season's MVP award in a race that featured a plethora of excellent candidates, but runner-up James Harden is still salty that he didn't come away victorious.
James Harden is still angry he didn’t win MVP last year
The MVP runner-up believes he should’ve won the award over Stephen Curry.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
“I know I was the MVP,” Harden told Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. “That’s 100 percent given all the things that happened last season.”
While Harden said he means no disrespect to Curry and the Golden State Warriors, the Rockets star made it a point to explain why he was deserving of the league's top individual honor over Curry.
For one, Houston finished second in the loaded Western Conference despite Dwight Howard missing half the season. Key contributors in Terrence Jones, Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas also dealt with injuries, but Harden's brilliant play helped them reach 56 wins and that coveted second seed:
”But that award means most valuable to your team. We finished second in the West, which nobody thought we were going to do at the beginning of the year even when everybody was healthy. We were near the top in having the most injuries. We won our division in a division where every single team made the playoffs.
“There’s so many factors. I led the league in total points scored, minutes played. Like I said, I’m not taking anything away from Steph, but I felt I deserved the Most Valuable Player. That stays with me.”
Harden has some valid points, and some advanced stats, including ESPN’s WAR and Basketball-Reference’s Win Shares, favor him as well. It’s also worth noting that the Rockets went from an elite offensive team with Harden to an abominable one without him.
But it was Curry who took home the award, and it looks like Harden is going to use that slight and his disappointing finish in the postseason as motivation to be even better this season.
“You don’t think I can do more?” Harden said. “Just wait. I’ll show you.”
Harden has worked all offseason on improving his conditioning and preparation so he doesn’t have another season-ending performance like last year, when he shot 2 of 11 from the field and turned the ball over 12 times in Game 5 against Curry and the Warriors.
With Harden readying himself to reach new heights and Ty Lawson now on board, Houston is set to be formidable once again. If Harden does indeed take his game to another level and the Rockets challenge for the top of the West, maybe he gets that MVP he thinks he deserved last year.
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