While a lot of the early MVP talk has centered around LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, Wardell Stephen Curry II is deserving to be in the conversation as well. After a sluggish start to the 2020-21 season, the Golden State Warriors star is looking like himself from his back-to-back MVP days.
Curry had a chip on his shoulder coming into this season, with plenty of people doubting his ability to be a top superstar again on a playoff team, especially with Klay Thompson lost for the season due to an Achilles tear. Although he did start the season slow, Curry has bounced back in a big way.
Curry's first signature game of the season was a 62-point effort on Jan. 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers. After a social media frenzy sparked by some Damian Lillard comments, Curry made the Blazers look silly with his career-high 62 points. Lillard could only pay his respects to Curry after the big showing.
Curry has had a few duds sprinkled in since that explosion, but for the most part he has been consistently great. He led the Warriors to wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers in January, with clutch shots in both games.
Saturday night against the Dallas Mavericks, Curry nearly went for 60 points again. While his 57 points came in a tough 134-132 defeat, Chef Curry was ridiculous all night, shooting 19-of-31 from the field and 11-of-19 on 3-pointers. It was just another classic Stephen Curry performance.
For the season, Curry is now up to 29.4 points, 6.1 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game. He's shooting 48.1% overall and 42.5% from 3-point range. His numbers from his historic 2015-16 campaign: 30.1 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 34.2 minutes per game while shooting 50.4% overall and 45.4% on 3-pointers.
Curry isn't quite as good as he was during that 73-win season, but this season's performance is almost just as impressive given the circumstances. He's now 32 years old and playing with a much worse roster. Thompson is out, while Draymond Green has taken a step back offensively (he is still a great passer and defender). The rest of the supporting cast is suspect, with Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. both inconsistent and a rookie big man in James Wiseman starting most of the season before a recent benching and injury.
Because of the roster shortcomings, the Warriors aren't a top contender this season, even with Curry going nuts. They're just 12-11 so far and will likely just be battling for a playoff spot.
Still, Stephen Curry putting on a show night after night and keeping his team competitive makes him an MVP candidate. If you took Curry off this Warriors team, they would be one of the worst teams in the NBA. We saw this play out last season. He likely won't win his third MVP, but as long as he continues to put up top-notch performances, his name should remain in the conversation for the award.
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