Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to win the league’s MVP award in unanimous fashion. It is Curry’s second-consecutive MVP award, and it really came as no surprise.
Curry had one of the great seasons we have seen in NBA history. He shot at an unprecedented level from 3-point range, and his team won 73 games, an NBA record previously held by Michael Jordan’s 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
Tuesday on ESPN’s The Jump, Tracy McGrady told Rachel Nichols that he felt Curry being the league’s first unanimous MVP showed how the league is “watered down” in comparison to years past:
Tracy McGrady says Steph Curry’s unanimous MVP selection shows that the NBA is “watered-down” pic.twitter.com/EUnoNEZSha
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) May 10, 2016
Now, headlines around the internet this afternoon might tell you that McGrady said that Curry didn’t deserve it, but the whole quote better tells the story, and doesn’t make McGrady sound like a total old-timer:
“For him to get this unanimously, it just tells you how watered down our league is. When you think of MJ, Shaq…I mean, those guys really played against top notch competition. More superstars, I think, on more teams, than it is in our league today. But it’s well deserved. He had a hell of a season.”
There was probably a better way to say what McGrady meant. But the interpretation of what he said could certainly be taken different ways. He did say that Curry deserved his MVP, and it can be interpreted that McGrady believes a player that has already solidified “all-time” status would have done it before Curry.
But nobody wants to hear that Curry might not deserve his unanimous MVP right now, while he and his team are going on a historical tear. And especially not after his remarkable, record-breaking (overtime) performance in Game 4 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
