Jalen Brunson Finals MVP Shines Light on Steph Curry Hypocrisy

Jalen Brunson was named 2026 Finals MVP, and it was well deserved.

The 6'2" guard had 45 points in Saturday's closeout game to beat the Spurs, and he was the most clutch player on the floor throughout the series.

But Brunson was also wildly inefficient for the first three games of the series.

Yet he was given grace by the media, grace that Stephen Curry did not get 11 years ago.

Brunson's unanimous Finals MVP sheds light on the hypocrisy of Finals MVP voters.

Comparing 2026 Brunson and 2015 Curry

To explain the hypocrisy, we have to list out the stats of Brunson and OG Anunoby before we do the same for Curry and 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.

Here are the Knicks stars first:

	PPG	TS%	Plus/Minus	4th-Q PPG
Brunson	32.6	.536	+8	11.2
Anunoby	21.2	.714	-17	7

And here are the Warriors stars:

	PPG	TS%	Plus/Minus	4th-Q PPG
Curry	26.0	.585	+52	10.8
Iguodala	16.3	.588	+62	5.7

Let's go over each stat.

In NBA history, every winning team that had its leading scorer score 40 or more points than its second-leading scorer saw the leading scorer win Finals MVP. Except Curry in 2015.

The reason Curry didn't get it in 2015 was a combination of a perceived lack of efficiency and Iguodala's superior defense.

But Curry was actually far more efficient than Brunson, Anunoby was actually far more efficient than Iguodala, and defensively, the gap between Iguodala and Curry was similar to the gap between Brunson and Anunoby.

Some Knicks fans may argue this whole conversation is moot because of how clutch Brunson was. But as you can see, Curry's fourth-quarter scoring was almost the same as Brunson's.

Why Curry Got Robbed

The two keys to Curry getting robbed and Brunson getting what he deserved were a) how the star guards were perceived for being offensive engines getting wild defensive attention and b) how the star guards were perceived after three games.

in 2015, Curry was not given enough credit for being the ultimate offensive engine. The Cavaliers didn't want him to have any air space even 40 feet from the basket, choosing instead to often leave Iguodala and other Warriors wide open.

Brunson didn't face that level of defensive attention, but there's no doubt he received more attention than any Knick. That attention led to great offense. It's fair to say that much of Anunoby's offense was a direct result of Brunson's playmaking.

The second point is more fascinating.

When the Warriors fell behind 2-1 in the 2015 Finals, the perception was that Curry was being locked up by Matthew Dellavedova and the Warriors needed someone to save the 2014-15 MVP. So when Iguodala was inserted into the starting lineup for Game 4 and the Warriors went on to win the last three games, it was perceived as Iguodala saving Curry, even though Curry outperformed Iguodala in those games.

Brunson was actually underperforming as much or more than Curry in the first three games of the 2026 Finals (27.3 PPG, 37.0 FG%). But there was no media blitz declaring he needed to be saved, perhaps because the Knicks caught a huge break in Game 2 to win by one point despite Brunson playing his worst game of the series.

So when Brunson shined in Games 4 and 5, it was perceived as him pulling ahead from the pack instead of closing the gap.

The last thing I'll say about this topic is Iguodala's defense on LeBron James was extremely valuable. Anunoby's defense was arguably not as valuable because the Spurs didn't have a James-level offensive engine.

But the fact that the voters ignored decades of precedent in which the offensive star gets Finals MVP remains curious to this day.

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