Wardell Stephen “Steph” Curry II continues to pave a successful road for himself in the world of professional basketball. Just this past week, Curry accepted the title of MVP for the National Basketball Association for the second year in a row, with a unanimous vote—making him the first ever unanimous MVP in the league.
Best known as Steph Curry to the mainstream media, Curry has been with the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, California since 2009, where he has built a successful career as a point guard with the franchise. During the 2014-15 season Curry helped to lead the Golden State Warriors to their first championship since 1975, and during the 2015-16 season the Warriors had the most wins in the league.
Curry’s time in the NBA has been both successful and eventful. Curry is not only known for his talents on the court, but also for his presence and family life off of the court. Curry’s wife Ayesha Curry and their oldest daughter Riley Curry, have been topics of media stories, gifs and memes for the past few years—the top family of basketball even got a shout out on rapper Drake’s song 0 to 100: “I been Steph Curry with the shot. Been cookin’ with the sauce, chef, curry with the pot, boy 360 with the wrist, boy,” speaking to the family’s popularity and success.
Over the years Curry’s talents have grown. He is arguably one of the strongest players in the NBA and one of the association’s best shooters to date. This season alone, Curry made 402 3-pointers, crushing his previous single-season NBA record of 286, which he set last season. Curry also became one of the only players in the league’s history to shoot at least “50 percent from the floor, 45 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the line in a season.” Curry is currently the first player in the league (within any position) to average 30 points per game in less than 35 minutes per game.
Last week Curry was named the NBA’s MVP for the second year in a row, with a unanimous vote from over 131 delegates. Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, and now Curry are the only unanimously voted MVP’s in their respective leagues—placing Curry alongside some of sport’s greatest athletes.
When asked about Curry, Tom Brady was quoted as saying, "He is such a dominant player and so much fun to watch. I grew up loving the Warriors and can't believe they are achieving the type of success now that they never did in the past. Steph is a huge part of that and I love how (Warriors executive) Jerry West helped build the team. I am a big fan of his also."
Yet not everyone seems to be a fan of Curry. Just recently LeBron James was asked about Curry’s recent title—and his comments left people wondering if there was any bad blood left between the pair after the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in last year’s NBA finals. “I think sometimes the word ‘valuable’ or best player of the year, you can have different results. You know, that’s not taking anything from anyone that’s ever won the award. Look at Steph’s numbers…so do you have any debate over that, really, when it comes to that award? But when you talk about most ‘valuable’ then you can have a different conversation, so, take nothing away from him, he’s definitely deserving of that award, for sure.”
Regardless of who are Curry supporters or not, the numbers cannot deny that Curry is literally on top of his game.
"I never really set out to change the game. I never thought that would happen in my career. What I wanted to do was be myself. ...I know it inspires the next generation. You can work every day to get better." Curry said as he accepted his award on Tuesday night surrounded by his family.
