The NBA MVP hasn’t been this good in a long time. Only one of the following four players — Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and LeBron James — can win the award, and right now, there isn’t a clear winner. All that, and the reigning two-time winner of the award, Stephen Curry, isn’t even being considered. How’s that for an MVP race?
Stephen Curry thinks James Harden should win MVP
The twice-reigning MVP makes his pick for the award this season.
Speaking of Curry, he doesn’t have a vote for the award, but his opinion does carry weight here. When asked by radio host Dan Patrick, Curry initially tried to get out of the question, but conceded that James Harden would be his pick when pressed for an answer. (You can see the video of his answer above.)
“You kind of have to reward the better team, I would think, record-wise,” Curry said. “That’s just kind of going in the history of the MVP award. So, I think James (Harden) will probably edge (Russell Westbrook) out just off of that.”
Curry knows his history. After all, here’s what the past 30 years of MVP voting looks like, and where their teams were in the playoff standings.
PLAYER | YEAR | SEEDING |
|---|
For Westbrook to remain in the discussion despite his team hanging around the seventh seed, he has had to average a triple-double, something the NBA hasn’t seen in more than 50 years. But even then, the award feels like it might be closing in on Harden or Leonard.
Right now, Curry thinks it would be Harden. There’s still about four weeks left to play, but that’s a good person to have in your corner.
