Steph Curry’s historic 2015-16 unanimous MVP campaign has been eclipsed by his incredible start to this season.
In 2015-16, Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors turned in one of the best performances by a point guard in NBA history. He was crowned MVP unanimously, the first ever.
Seven years later at age 34, however, Curry is putting up numbers that are already outpacing that historic performance.
In terms of basic statistics, Curry scored 30.1 points per game, collected 5.4 rebounds per game, and dished 6.7 assists per game during his MVP season. So far in the 2022-23 campaign, though, Curry has increased his points to 31.4 per game, his rebounds to 6.8 per game, and his assists to 7.1 per game.
Still, the basic statistics only tell part of the story. What about his efficiency?
Warriors: Steph Curry is even better than in his unanimous MVP season
Well, during his NBA season, Curry shot 50.4 percent from the field, 45.4 percent from the three-point line, and 90.8 percent from the free-throw line. This season, he’s bettered his field goal percentage to 52.2, slightly decreased his three-point shooting to 44.1 percent, and increased his efficiency from the free throw line to 91.1.
What’s more, Curry is protecting the ball better this season too. In 2015-16, he had an average turnover rate of 3.3. This season, that’s down to 2.9. Couple that with his increased assists, and his assists-to-turnovers is increased from 2.01 to 2.45.
It’s confounding to think that seven years after such an incredible performance, Curry could be having another mesmerizing season. The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors were one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
You might think the currently-average Warriors are asking Curry to make up for this disappointing start with more minutes. But in fact, this figure is more or less unchanged from the MVP season (34.5 minutes this season, as compared to 34.2 minutes).
There’s a lot of basketball left to play, but after 21 games, there’s enough of a sample to recognize that Steph is going to have another incredible season.