Stephen Curry’s level of play has dipped slightly from his back-to-back MVP seasons. Whether it be a result of bringing Kevin Durant in or because he doesn’t have as much to prove in the regular season, he hasn’t been on quite the same level this year. His 3-point percentage is down 5.5 percentage points from last season, and now sits just below 40 percent. Partially as a result of that and partially because he is shooting less attempts, his scoring average has fallen 5.2 points, down to 24.9 points nightly.
Curry, even at this current level of play, is still playing at a historic level this season. His 272 made 3-pointers is good enough for the fifth-best mark in a single season with basketball left to be played. He now owns four of the top five single season performances for that stat, and is joined by teammate Klay Thompson in the top five. In addition, Curry’s quick hands have him in contention for leading the league in steals for the second season in a row. Just because he isn’t going to be MVP this season, it doesn’t mean that Steph isn’t still a very good player.
Curry remains one of the league’s best and most explosive players on the offensive end, and has sacrificed some amount of individual success in hopes for more team success. This is all in hopes, of course, of another championship for the bay area. Most criticisms of Golden State are nitpicking, as they will likely finish with the league’s best record even with the extended absence of Kevin Durant. Curry and the rest of the Warriors will be favored to win the title as long as Durant makes it back for the playoffs, as expected.