3-Time NBA Champ Says Steph Curry Shouldn't Have Been Unanimous MVP

Stephen Curry became the first and only unanimous MVP in history after his historic 2015-16 season.

He averaged an NBA-high 30.1 points on 50/45/90 shooting splits. He made an NBA-record 402 three-pointers. And he led the Golden State Warriors to an NBA-record 73 wins in the regular season.

Despite that, Danny Green has a problem with Curry getting all 131 first-place votes.

“Nobody else could have got a vote that year?" the three-time NBA champion said on the No Fouls Given podcast. "It’s the first guy ever in we couldn’t get nobody else a vote. A LeBron James couldn’t get a vote? ... Like, bro, are you s--tting me?"

Green continued: "You would have thought he was Wilt. ... Wilt averaged 50 points and 30 rebounds, and he was never unanimous."

Curry's Case Justified a Unanimous Vote

The two players who were closest to Curry in 2015-16 were Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James.

Leonard had the team-success angle, leading the Spurs to 67 wins. He won the Defensive Player of the Year award while averaging 21.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

James had a down year by his standards, but he still filled up the stat sheet by averaging 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game.

But neither had much of an argument. Here are a few stats that show how superior Curry was.

	PPG	TS%	On/Off Swing	Win Shares
Steph	30.1	66.9	+22.6	17.9
LeBron	25.3	58.8	+15.8	13.6
Kawhi	21.2	61.6	+7.1	13.7

And though Curry was not the caliber of defender that James and Leonard were, he led the league in steals with 2.1 per game.

Others Before Curry Should Have Won Unanimously

Green does have a point about how Wilt Chamberlain probably should have at least one unanimous MVP.

Chamberlain didn't win MVP at all for his most prolific season. He averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds in 1961-62, but the Philadelphia Warriors (49-31) finished 11 games behind the Boston Celtics (60-20), which convinced voters that Bill Russell deserved the nod with averages of 18.9 points and 23.6 rebounds per game.

Chamberlain finished his career with four MVPs, but in each case, at least four other people got first-place votes.

Many others have come close.

Michael Jordan got 109 of 113 first-place votes when he led the Bulls to a 72-10 regular-season record in 1995-96.

Shaquille O'Neal got 120 of 121 first-place votes for his 1999-2000 season with the Lakers.

LeBron James got 120 of 121 first-place votes for his 2012-13 season with the Heat.

Why anyone voted against those three is beyond me.

Ultimately, this whole conversation feels pointless. It's fun to debate whether the peak version of Curry was in the same tier as the peak version of James, Jordan, O'Neal and others. But the percentage of first-place votes those players got in their peak years should have no place in that debate.

Letting a rogue voter have any influence on us is silly.