The NBA’s Most Valuable Player award is a foregone conclusion at this point.
But if you thought for a second that’d keep the national pundits from arguing about it, think again.
This week, the NBA internet has been full of arguments splitting hairs about what the MVP award means and who is worthy, with the most roasted take coming from Fox Sports’ Nick Wright, who argued Thursday that Nikola Jokic would be the worst MVP in the last 35 years.
While the Warriors haven’t had the team success of Jokic’s Nuggets this season (two recent wins over Denver notwithstanding), Steph Curry has similarly carried his team to a likely postseason birth — with more eye-popping efficient scoring than even his consensus MVP season from 2016.
Thursday night on TNT, the NBA’s old guard-turned-conversation setters again took a swing at the issue.
Over highlights from Curry’s 34-point performance in the Warriors’ win against the Thunder, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley weighed in.
After Shaq labeled Curry the MVP, Barkley said he was just “talking stupid again.”
“He’s not going to win MVP. It’s Joker or Chris Paul,” Barkley said.
Barkley brushed off suggestions that 76ers center Joel Embiid or Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell could compete for the award.
“This guy right here’s the best player in the league,” O’Neal said of Curry.
Kenny Smith agreed that Curry was “playing the best basketball” at the moment, and so did Barkley.
So within that minute-long segment, the NBA on TNT crew parsed the difference between the most valuable player, the best basketball player and the player playing the best basketball. No wonder this gets confusing (and no wonder the pundits find ways to argue in circles).
Warriors fans surely aren’t surprised to hear Barkley arguing against Curry’s candidacy, given his history of doubting Golden State.
The Warriors, currently eighth in the Western Conference, are almost certain to finish in the new play-in tournament, where they’ll have to earn their spot in the playoffs. That’s one knock on Curry’s case, though his surrounding talent is lower than those of Embiid, Paul and Jokic — at least prior to Denver’s recent spate of backcourt injuries.
While eighth place may be too low in the standings to earn MVP accolades, Curry has looked the part of the league’s best player — and perhaps the most valuable to his team. In the 20 games he’s played since returning from a tailbone injury March 29, he’s scored 30 or more points in 18. Both times he failed to reach 30, the Warriors lost.
Curry’s averaging a scorching 36.7 points per game in that period, shooting 45.5% from 3, flying around screens for open looks, probing opposing defenses to find teammates and staying engaged on the other end of the floor.
Whether that’s enough for the MVP award, the title of the planet’s best player or something else, there’s no doubt it’s a tough matchup for anyone the Warriors could face in a single-elimination scenario like the play-in tournament.