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Tracy McGrady calls Stephen Curry’s unanimous MVP watered down

By John Buhler

BEIJING, CHINA - JULY 01: (CHINA OUT) Tracy McGrady of San Antonio Spurs in action during the 2013 Yao Foundation Charity Game between China and the NBA Stars at MasterCard Center on July 1, 2013 in Beijing, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - JULY 01: (CHINA OUT) Tracy McGrady of San Antonio Spurs in action during the 2013 Yao Foundation Charity Game between China and the NBA Stars at MasterCard Center on July 1, 2013 in Beijing, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) /
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Former NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady isn’t all that impressed with Stephen Curry’s unanimous MVP award, calling the current state of the NBA ‘watered down.’

On ESPN’s The Jump Tuesday, former NBA All-Star and television analyst Tracy McGrady takes a major shot at the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry for being the NBA’s first unanimous MVP, calling the NBA ‘watered down.’

McGrady’s hot take on The Jump took host Rachel Nichols and writer Pablo S. Torre by complete surprise. It’s hard to discredit what Curry has done on the court the last two years, but McGrady clearly feels that somebody else should have been the league’s first unanimous MVP besides Curry, the greatest ball handler and scorer in the game today.

Being a unanimous MVP rarely happens. Wayne Gretzky was only a unanimous MVP once in his unbelievable NHL career while with the Edmonton Oilers in 1982. Tom Brady won a unanimous MVP back in 2010 leading the New England Patriots in the NFL.

What McGrady is arguing is that great players before Curry’s time of dominance like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, or Oscar Robertson never won a unanimous MVP. Even one of Curry’s contemporaries in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James didn’t win any of his MVP awards unanimously.

Did Curry have the best season of anybody in the NBA? Without question, yes, but was this the year that the award had to be won unanimously? While their may be a more complete player in the league than Curry, it just wasn’t possible to have him as the first choice on a 2015-16 NBA MVP ballot, thus proving that he was the right choice for the league’s first unanimous MVP award recipient.

Curry was the most outstanding player on the most outstanding regular-season team in NBA history. Should Golden State win back-to-back NBA titles, the Warriors can stake the claim as the best team in NBA history.

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