Stephen Curry Is The NBA MVP of The Decade -- Here's Why
There is simply no denying that Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry is the decade's most valuable player.
During his college years, he was not one of the big names in the Davidson Wildcats, where he played three years before being picked by the Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Steph single-handedly transformed not only Golden State but the NBA in general. Curry's impact on the way basketball is played in the NBA has been more profound and bigger than LeBron James' influence, although the King is arguably the best overall player of the decade and the largest producer of the news.
Similar to James, Curry's dominance has spanned so much in the last decade. But unlike James, Curry had his ups and downs.
Steph achieved stardom in the 2013-14 NBA season when he made his first All-Star team. However, it is not until the campaign when he catapulted himself to legendary status when he won the NBA MVP award and led the Warriors to the championship.
Curry had a historic 50-40-90 season in 2015-2016, which is only the cherry on top of what would turn out to be a historic year for him. He became the league's first-ever unanimous MVP in the said season, though they failed to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy despite an epic 73-9 win-loss record.
Steph nearly averaging 50-40-90 over ten years is utterly phenomenal, and he did this while making his teammates better. During his phenomenal run from 2014 until 2019, the likes of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green became All-Stars as well.
NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroch also gave an interesting argument why Curr -- not LeBron despite his transcendent talent -- is the MVP of the decade for him.
"If you were wondering who the MVP of the 2010s, it's hard to argue against that. Curry won three championships, led the 3-point revolution, and came out on top of the plus/minus scoreboard. In many ways, Steph Curry defined the 2010s, and according to plus/minus, he also won it," Haberstroch explained.
However, what reaaly makes Curry dominant and what sets him apart from other NBA superstars?
Put simply, it is his efficient shooting, limitless range and quick release that brought him to supperstardom. These are what allowed Curry to average over 25 points per game for four straight seasons, topping at 30.1 per game.
According to Kevin Pelton of ESPN, Curry's rise best symbolizes where the NBA appears to be headed, as "skill and speed gain favor over size and strength."
Pelton added that while those trends had begun with rules changes in the previous decade, it only took a single player capable of exploiting them to open the league's eyes to what now seems possible.
Curry was the most dynamic talent for a Warriors team that featured the likes of Thompson, Green, Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala.
Sure enough, he could not have led such a dominant team without some help. Green, Thompson were the perfect supporting players for him, while Durant took the pressure off of Curry needing to perform at a high level night in and night out.
Curry is currently in his 11th season in the NBA, but he is currently sidelined for the Warriors after breaking his hand earlier in the 2019-20 campaign. where he is a six-time All-Star, two-time MVP and a three-time NBA Champion.
While Curry will welcome 2020 on the shelf as he recovers from a broken left hand, it is with certainty that once he returns to the court, he will again among the players at the top of the league.
