8. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Like Durant, it’d take something remarkable from Stephen Curry in 2018-19 to sway voters’ attention back to a team they’d rather avoid heaping more praise onto. The Golden State Warriors fatigue is very real, and as a two-time MVP (one of which was unanimous), it’s hard to see Curry somehow topping what he and the Dubs have already accomplished in the regular season.
The Warriors have already won an NBA-record 73 games. Curry has already crossed the 30 points per game threshold, set the single-season 3-point record and joined the 50-40-90 club. At this point, it’d take an injury bug outbreak and Chef Curry carrying Golden State to the top record in the NBA for him to garner MVP buzz again.
There’s no question he’s one of the NBA’s top three or four players, but he no longer needs to post MVP-caliber numbers to prove it. Last year he averaged 26.4 points, 6.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game on .495/.423/.921 shooting splits, but he didn’t even finish in the top five for MVP voting.
It’s hard for Curry and the Warriors to step it up any more than they already have, so unless there’s a serious dearth of quality candidates in 2018-19, it’s hard to see him doing something that challenges the frontrunners in this category.