Hopefully.
Steph Curry already collected one MVP trophy this year, after the Golden State Warriors point guard took home the honors for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, which he also hosted. And we all hope that there’s another MVP trophy awaiting him this year.
Because if there is, that means the Warriors have won the NBA Finals and Curry is taking home the Bill Russell trophy.
All that is to say, Curry isn’t going to become a three-time NBA MVP this season. It’s a two-horse race: the honor of regular season MVP will go to either the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokić, or the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
But Curry could get some down ballot votes. The MVP award, which is voted on by the media, features a five-player ballot, meaning every voter will get to choose three names in addition to Jokić (a three-time winner) and SGA (the reigning runner-up).
Will Curry get some of those votes?
He’ll need to return to the court first. Curry could suit up later today when the Dubs visit the Miami Heat, and needs to play in five of the team’s final 11 games to hit the 65-game minimum required for award eligibility. That seems likely to happen.
Then he’ll need to beat out some other top names, primarily Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. It seems likely to me, assuming the Warriors keep rising up the standings, that Curry will at least appear on the back of a few of those ballots.
It would be a return to the norm for Curry. Save for the 2019-20 season — in which an injury limited him to just five games — last year was the first time that Curry didn’t receive MVP shares since the 2011-12 season, his third in the league. Since then, he’s won the prestigious award twice, finished third, fifth, sixth (twice), eighth, ninth, 10th, and 11th.