Is Stephen Curry in the MVP Race?

(Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports)

Stephen Curry has been on an absolute tear over the last 2 weeks. For the entire season, Golden State has relied on Curry to produce mostly all their offense. Fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson hasn’t played all year, and other starters like Kelly Oubre and Rookie James Wiseman have also missed time. Steph’s work load has increased to a point previously unseen in his career. Curry is currently in the Top 10 in the NBA in usage rate, shot attempts per game, and points per game. He recently overtook Bradley Beal for the latter, now averaging 31.4 PPG. Curry’s assist numbers are also down from last season, but he is still putting up a decent 5.9 per game.

(si.com)

Despite his electric production, it seemed for much of the season that Curry was on the outside looking into the MVP race. His Warriors were disappointing record wise and Curry wasn’t showing us anything he hadn’t done before. But recently, Steph has turned it on and is in the middle of what some NBA Head Coaches are calling “one of the greatest offensive runs in NBA history.” Let me read off Curry’s point totals for the past 10 games; 49, 47, 33, 42, 53, 38, 32, 41, 37, 36. Thats an average of 40.8 PPG. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Curry has accounted for 35% of the Warriors scoring over the last ten games. The only other players to accomplish this level of dominance were Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Steph has also hit 72 3s in his last 10 outings, the most by any player in NBA History over that span.

(Matt Slocum/AP)

So with all this said, Steph has definitely earned a spot at the table. He’s the small man nestled in between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. Unfortunately for Steph, I believe Jokic is still the one picking up the check. Despite Curry’s production, Golden State is only 6-4 in their last 10 and currently sit at 9th in the Western Conference. Steph’s offensive explosion has plopped him into 2nd place, but he won’t be taking home the gold if the Warriors don’t start getting Ws. So is Steph in the MVP conversation? Yes. Certainly. But he still has some work to do to catch the Joker.

(Chris Humphreys/USA Today Sports)