Warriors guard Stephen Curry is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2014-15 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2014-15 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, the league announced today. Curry is the second player in Warriors history to be named MVP—and the first in the team’s West Coast Era (since 1962-63)—joining Wilt Chamberlain, who earned the honor as a rookie with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959-60.
Curry, 27, led the Warriors to a franchise-record and NBA-best 67 wins in 2014-15 (67-15, .817) and helped the Warriors capture their first Pacific Division title since 1975-76. Golden State is just the 10th team in NBA history to win 67 games in a single season.
In 80 games (all starts), the sixth-year guard posted averages of 23.8 points (sixth in the NBA), 7.7 assists (sixth), 4.3 rebounds and 2.04 steals (fourth) in 32.7 minutes, the fewest minutes played by an MVP in league history. Curry 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). Curry also led the league in both plus/minus (+11.5) and Net Rating (17.0).
From a panel of 129 voters that consisted of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, as well as an NBA.com MVP fan vote, Curry totaled 1,198 points, including 100 first-place votes.
One of the most prolific shooters in NBA history, Curry hit a three-pointer in all but one of his 80 games in 2014-15, including each of his last 73 contests, giving him at least one three in 148 of his last 149 regular-season games. With season highs of 51 points and 10 three-pointers on Feb. 4 vs. Dallas, Curry became the only player in league history to register multiple games with at least 50 points and 10 three-pointers (also Feb. 27, 2013 at New York).
Curry was named Kia Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in October/November, becoming the first player in franchise history to win three career monthly honors, and earned Western Conference Player of the Week accolades twice this season (November 9 & March 29). An All-Star starter in each of the last two seasons, in 2015 Curry became the first Warrior since Rick Barry in 1976 to lead the league in All-Star votes.