Sorry Kevin, you’re wrong: ESPN analyst snubs Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry

The New Year is upon us and it’s a time to reflect on everything that was in 2022. It was an historic year for the Golden State Warriors, lifting their fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy in eight seasons behind Stephen Curry’s maiden Finals MVP.

Yet Curry’s wasn’t the player of the year, at least according to ESPN senior writer Kevin Pelton. In awarding his Golden Basketball’ award for the year’s best player, Pelton preferred Dallas Mavericks’ star Luka Doncic.

2022 should be defined as the year of Stephen Curry — listing anyone else is a gross injustice to what took place throughout the calendar year.

The first issue is Pelton’s criteria which includes form in international competition. That’s all well and good in a World Cup or Olympic year, but not in one where there’s no major competition for nations outside Europe.

Curry is part of Pelton’s five-man group of finalists alongside Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum. But despite Pelton conceding that “no NBA player did more to elevate their historical legacy in 2022 than Curry”, it wasn’t enough to beat a player who failed to win any major awards during the NBA regular season, playoffs, or even at Eurobasket.

The biggest gripe with Pelton’s evaluation is using the Western Conference Finals, and the teams’ apparent talent disparity, as an argument for Doncic and against Curry.

"“Curry won the first Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP as his team cruised past Doncic’s 4-1, but I think that result said more about their respective supporting casts than the two superstars”, Pelton writes."

Both teams had four players average over 12 points per game during that series. While Doncic averaged over 30 points, don’t let that distract you from the fact his impact was well and truly blanketed by Andrew Wiggins. It was a disappointing series for the young Slovenian, and we can’t let the numbers rewrite history to say otherwise.

But by all means, if we want to look purely at statistics, then Doncic covers Curry by a margin. However, we’re now 14 years into a legendary career — one that’s shown that individual impact can’t simply be measured by the numbers.

While Curry continues to play a team brand of basketball conducive to winning championships, the Mavericks current heliocentric offense will deliver Doncic individual stats and awards but not the grand team prize. What would you prefer?