As the NBA's award season came to a close, it was only fitting Stephen Curry was the last man standing, thriving in the national spotlight as he so often does.
The Warriors’ season to remember reached yet another climax on Monday, as Stephen Curry was presented with the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award. With each benchmark of the season that has passed, the Warriors have been at the center of discussion all year long, and it was only fitting that as the league’s award season came to a close, Golden State’s golden boy was the last man standing, thriving in the national spotlight as he so often does.
Monday’s award presentation was the culmination of an extended performance that captured the hearts and minds of basketball lovers all around the world, and the only fitting conclusion to the narrative that was Stephen Curry’s 2014-15 regular season campaign. He set nets on fire around the country, deftly extinguishing the competitive aspirations of his counterparts with other-worldly sequences of gasp-inducing splashes. He frequently left opponents in the dust, putting on in-game ball-handling clinics that had already garnered him a separate MVP designation – that of the league’s Most Vine-Worthy Player. Despite being the central figure of the opposition’s game plan on a nightly basis, Curry still managed to raise his own game and that of his teammates to the tune of the 10th 67-win regular season in NBA history. And yet, even with all the success and accompanying accolades, he remains as humble a superstar as there is in this league.
The son of a former NBA player, Curry grew up on courts and in locker rooms throughout the Association, an experience that undoubtedly molded his character into the consummate professional he has been throughout his still relatively young career. A slight, unimposing athlete for the majority of his adolescence, Curry knew from an early age that bloodlines alone were not going to be enough to get him to where he wanted to be. He worked, he fought, and he earned his right to play in the NBA, and once he got there, he didn’t stop. Multiple ankle injuries derailed his first few years in the league, and when popular discussion shifted from the topic of his bountiful potential to his perceived fragility, it only motivated him further to become the on-court dynamo he is today. Your prototypical leader-by-example, Curry has let his play do the talking, reshaping the demeanor of a perennial lottery franchise into one that swept through the league this season, and projects to be extremely formidable for many years to come. That transformation has had everything to do with his personal presence and progression, and this MVP award is a much-deserved acknowledgment of his ceaseless effort and determination that proved essential to the result.
The numbers alone are enough to make one’s head spin. Simply put, Curry has become a kind of player unlike any other in the league’s 69-year history. In 80 games this season (all starts), Curry posted averages of 23.8 points (sixth in the NBA), 7.7 assists (sixth), 4.3 rebounds and 2.04 steals (fourth), while leading the league in both plus/minus (+11.5) and Net Rating (17.0). He also led the league in three-point field goals for a third consecutive season, hitting 286 threes to break his own NBA-record for single-season three-pointers, and ranked third in three-point percentage (.443) while leading the league in free throw percentage (.914). What elevates those numbers from thoroughly impressive to mind-boggling is the fact that he accomplished those feats while sitting out the entirety of 17 fourth quarters throughout the season, all due to the fact that the winning result was already in hand by the end of the third frame. In fact, Curry’s average playing time of 32.7 minutes per game are the fewest minutes played by an MVP in league history. Despite that, he still managed to become the first player ever to average at least 23 points, seven assists and hit 40 percent from three-point land in consecutive seasons, and it makes you wonder just how much more amazing those statistics could have been if the Warriors hadn’t blown out so many opponents. As to the inevitable question regarding his potential to repeat as MVP, that – in combination with his team’s assumed success - may be the most promising argument on the side of the affirmative.
But Curry’s contributions have never been limited to the court itself. Despite his commitments to his team, endless commercial and promotional involvements, the launch of his first-ever signature shoe line, a growing family and the numerous other obligations that come along with being a superstar, Curry has still managed to do what he can to give back to those less fortunate, an opportunity never lost on an ardent supporter of both the local and international communities. For the third consecutive season, Curry sponsored the Nothing But Nets program, a global grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, by donating three life-saving bednets for every three-pointer he made. With his own personal contribution of 858 nets this season in addition to a $5,000 donation on behalf of the Golden State franchise, Curry and the Warriors have donated a combined total of 3,740 nets over the past three seasons to help protect families in Africa from malaria. A dedicated philanthropist, Curry also donated the 2016 Kia Sorento LX CUV he received as part of his MVP coronation to the East Oakland Youth Development Center, which develops the social and leadership capacities of youth and young adults from the Oakland and surrounding communities. As Draymond Green recently quipped, Curry is the “model citizen”, and one who certainly recognizes his present situation as both a privilege and responsibility.
It’s rare to find a player so capable of dominating the game on his own that is so comfortable deferring the credit to others. In yet another signature display of his modest nature, Curry made sure to individually acknowledge and laud each and every one of his teammates during his acceptance speech, from the starters down to the D-League call-ups. He praised the front office that endowed him with those teammates, the coaches that spawned and continually cultivated within him his love for the game, as well as the support staff that has helped foster his professional development. That’s quite simply who Stephen Curry is - a man of great talent, but equally great character. He’s not only a model citizen, but also, a model leader who very well may have redefined our definition of the model MVP.