Warriors Superstar Stephon Curry Would Pick Rockets’ James Harden For NBA MVP

USA Today

As the end of the 2016-17 NBA regular season draws near, the debate over who should be NBA MVP has started to heat up. Ironically, the frontrunners in the race for MVP aren’t players on teams at the top of their respective conferences with it seeming to be a two-man competition between former teammates, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

Recently, during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, two-time NBA MVP Stephon Curry of the Golden State Warriors was asked who he’d pick for the regular-season award and why. Curry would go with Harden and gave this explanation, via Pro Basketball Talk:

“You kind of have to reward the better team, I would think, record-wise. That’s just kind of going in the history of the MVP award. So, I think James will probably edge him out just off of that.”

Although the Rockets are the top team in the Western Conference at this point in the season, Houston is still very much a threat to win it all this year. Harden has flourished under new head coach Mike D’Antoni and has helped his team become a legitimate threat in the West to perennial superpowers in the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State.

Currently, Harden is averaging a career-high 29.1 points per game to go along with a career-best 11.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds per contest. Westbrook, however, is averaging a triple-double with 31.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 10.1 assists per game.

Westbrook would be the first player since Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double for an entire season if able to pull off the feat. Despite Westbrook’s impressive numbers, the Oklahoma City Thunder are struggling to contend with the best of the best in the West with the team barely holding onto the sixth seed while trying to hold off the pressing Memphis Grizzlies.

The Rockets, on the other hand, are sitting comfortably in the third seed behind the Spurs and Warriors. Houston will cruise into the playoffs while likely sporting 50 plus wins.