Rockets' Kevin Durant Reportedly Wanted Stephen Curry to Win 2018 Finals MVP

The 2017-18 season was one to remember for the Houston Rockets. Although they were entering the first season of the Chris Paul-James Harden pairing, it didn't take long for the future Hall of Fame guards to gell and mesh.

The Rockets paced their way to a 65-win season, marking a single-season franchise record, and posting the NBA's best record. In the postseason, they were a variant force, beating both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz each within five games.

Then came the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, who the Rockets had been eliminated by in two of the previous three seasons.

This Warriors team was different from those teams though. They had Kevin Durant, who had just won a championship with the franchise in 2016-17 -- his first season with the organization.

In that Rockets-Warriors series, Durant averaged a series-best 30.4 points, 46.1 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from three, 88.5 percent from the foul line, and 59.6 percent true shooting, helping Golden State win a battle-tested seven-game series (although the Rockets were without Chris Paul in the final two games).

Durant and the Warriors advanced to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth year in a row and ultimately swept them. In that series, Durant averaged 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 52.6 percent from the floor, 40.9 percent from long-range, and 96.3 percent from the line.

All good enough for him to nab Finals MVP for the second consecutive season.

This time, however, Durant wanted Curry to win Finals MVP. In fact, according to Durant's former Warriors teammate, Quinn Cook, Durant had been fixated on Curry winning Finals MVP all season, as told on the Player's Choice podcast.

"When we were in Houston and Toyota Center's going crazy, and they just made a 9-0 run and we needed a bucket, we're going to Kevin every single time. And to be honest, Kevin wanted Steph to get that Finals MVP the next year so bad. That's all he was talking about all season, like I can't wait until Steph gets his Finals MVP so he can shut up everybody, the naysayers.

But I think in Game 2 that's when Steph broke the record, he had nine 3s. And then Game 3, we were struggling, Steph was struggling, and Kevin just accidentally walked into 40. And then you just look at the numbers statistically, I think Kevin had a triple-double in Game 4. He wasn't even as aggressive; that's just how good he is. He just accidentally got the Finals MVP back-to-back."

Kudos to Durant for wanting his teammate to win the Finals MVP, especially for narratives' sake. Curry ultimately did nab Finals MVP on a far less talented team four years later (without Durant).