With the lone exception of the Spurs, all of the NBA’s teams have played between 18 and 20 games so far this season (San Antonio is at 17), meaning we’re just about at the one-quarter mark of the season. With that in mind, we’re taking stock today of the top performances of 2021/22 to date.
The NBA’s top scorer so far is the same player who finished atop the leaderboard last season: Stephen Curry. Curry’s 28.2 PPG is nearly four full points below his 2020/21 average, but it looks like he’ll have a much stronger case for Most Valuable Player consideration this time around based on his team’s performance.
The Warriors, who finished just a few games above .500 and didn’t make the playoffs last season, have a league-best 16-2 record this season — and they’re still waiting to add Klay Thompson and James Wiseman to their rotation. Curry has led the charge, knocking down 41.8% of an eye-popping 12.9 three-point attempts per game, while chipping in 6.8 APG and 5.8 RPG. Golden State plays like an average team when Curry sits (-0.3 net rating) and an all-time juggernaut when he’s on the court (+20.4).
As the top scorer on the NBA’s best team, Curry would almost certainly win the MVP award if the season ended today, but if he or the Warriors slow down, there are plenty of other contenders to consider, starting with last year’s winner.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has matched last season’s scoring average (26.4 PPG) while establishing new career-highs in RPG (13.6), FG% (.593), and 3PT% (.410) in the early going. He also leads Denver in APG (6.4), and the gap between the team’s net rating when he’s on the court (+12.6) and off it (-14.6) is even bigger than Curry’s.
Unfortunately, that net rating with Jokic off the court may be the thing that ultimately sinks his chances. The injury-plagued Nuggets have been brutal whenever the reigning MVP sits and it’s led to a middle-of-the-pack 10-10 record so far. Like Curry a year ago, Jokic isn’t going to win another MVP award if his team finishes in play-in range.
How about another star on a No. 1 seed then? The 14-5 Nets, who have a two-game cushion in the Eastern Conference, have been led by a version of Kevin Durant playing at the height of his powers. He’s right behind Curry for the scoring lead (28.1 PPG) and has posted a career-best .556 FG% to go along with 7.6 RPG and 5.3 APG. Brooklyn has a +6.0 net rating when he plays, compared to +0.3 when he sits.
Durant’s case will be hurt a little by the fact that he has another former MVP – James Harden – helping him out, but if the Nets finish atop the East without Kyrie Irving playing at all, that’ll be a point in Durant’s favor.
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Clippers forward Paul George, Heat swingman Jimmy Butler, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Suns guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker, and Bulls wings Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are some of the other stars who would be in the conversation if the season ended today. Sixers center Joel Embiid and Lakers forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis are among the others who could force their way into the conversation if they stay healthy and their teams move up the standings.
We want to know what you think. Is Curry the MVP so far? Who is the biggest threat to take the award from him if everyone stays healthy? Are there any dark-horse candidates you like? What would your five-man ballot look like at this point?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Too early for me. Like to do this after AllStar break. Curry is off to good start. Especially Warriors missing three of their top players.
3 top players? Klay is great. But, how does he count as 3?
Warriors top players are Curry, Dray, Thompson, Wiggins and Poole. 4 of them are playing. Only injuries other than Thompson are Iggy(day to day) can do his job as team mentor while he’s hurt and Wiseman is nowhere near one of their top players right now.
We all know that Klay was great, but after suffering back-to-back major injuries that caused him to miss two full seasons and a substantial part of this season as well, who can say if he’s still going to be one of their best players anymore.
A couple years ago, I heard multiple superstars on a team cancel each other out for mvp. So no AD, Lebron, KD, Harden, right?
Depends on the context. LeBron on the Big 3-era Heat won two MVPs but LeBron was also just that good those years. I don’t think LeBron/AD have a legit argument short of one getting hurt or one just going on a complete tear throughout the rest of the season to lead the Lakers to a #1 seed. Same could be said for the Nets although Harden would need to go on a tearz KD has played well enough so far that if his numbers stay around where they are right now, or get better, and the Nets finish as the #1 seed in the East there is definitely an argument for him as the MVP. Depends on how the other MVP candidates look though. If the Warriors/Curry keep playing this well, it will be hard to make an argument against Curry.
It’s Curry so far and it’s not even close. Time will tell.
It’s early but so far this season I don’t think you really need to go 5 deep. Steph is a step above. If I did do a top 5 though it’d go
1. Steph Curry
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Kevin Durant
4. Paul George
5. Jimmy Butler
With honorable mentions to Devin Booker, Giannis Antetokounmpo and oddly enough Rudy Gobert.
Giannis is barely behind Steph and KD in scoring, no way do PG and Butler belong ahead of him.
1) Steph
2-5) it doesn’t really matter to me. This is the best version of Curry on both sides of the floor, even better than his MVP years. If he’s healthy, there is no other argument for anyone else.
If you don’t think its Steph, you aren’t enjoying basketball.
The best scorer and playmaker is now also in the mix for the best defensive player. Game over.
Um, what?
Yes Marty, whatever you say. Curry will win both the MVP and Defensive POY.
Curry won’t, but his teammate could.
Draymond does have a much better chance of winning DPOY.
Curry, Durant and Giannis for me. In that order.
I know at the end of the year it’s going to come down to Curry, KD, and Giannis. Then, Jokic, one of CP3 or Booker, and maybe Jimmy Buckets or PG13 they’ll all get some kind of love, mentions, and/or notoriety in the voting.
Thats all fine and dandy, except Zach LaVine needs to start getting some mentions too with the rest of that second tier of guys. Dude is a walking bucket, he’s also improved his defense noticeably this year, he’s become more efficient with his scoring, he’s been a better playmaker, and now that he actually has a decent squad around him he’s part of a winning team.
I’m not saying he should win the MVP or anything, but he definitely deserves to be in the running behind Curry and Giannis.
Can you guys start putting up poles to vote ? It’s fairly common on mlbtraderumors. I would rather vote than leave a comment on questions like these.
So all 10 of us can vote?
I try to limit polls to questions where the answer isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. In this case, I think Curry would pretty overwhelmingly win an “MVP so far” poll, so I felt like a discussion would be more interesting.
It’s KD, and it’s because of his return from the Achilles injury. This is and probably will be the best we ever see a player return from that injury. Kobe put up like 20 points and shot horrendously to do it when he came back.
Next up is Jokic, if he puts up the same or better stat line as last year he’s the MVP. Those numbers are historically significant. Right now he’s down in assists but up in rebounds.
In 2017-19, the narrative was Steph and/or KD can’t be MVP because they’re 2 former MVPs on the same team. KD and Harden, same.
This is strip club Harden, dude may dip below 20ppg.
Clearly Jokic is a few tiers above everyone else… so there it is he is the unanimous MVP right now!
1/ Jokic
2/ Giannis
3/ KD
4/ Curry
5/ AD
No way, he’s got a 10-10 record. Steph at 4th seems disrespectful.
I don’t mind wins, but for play Curry is the 4th best player right now, to be higher up he just needs to play better, as simple as!
Jokic, Giannis & KD are playing better than him as a matter of fact, no disrespect!
Giannis has a stronger case than Jokic based on scoring numbers, defensive impact, and team performance. He’s the runner up to Steph right now.
Have to at least put Lamello Ball in the conversation.
Especially if LeBron, Davis and Embid are going to be mentioned.
LaMelo has completely helped transform the Hornets to a legitimate playoff team. He isn’t just making plays on his own, he is helping to turn Miles Bridges into an all star. LaMelo needs to be in the conversation. He won’t win, yet, butt he should be in the top 5 discussion
*but (damn autocorrect)
The league has intentionally never explicitly defined what constitutes the MVP. Most years, it’s the best player on the best team, but the ambiguity allows the prevailing narrative to dominate.