NBA MVP race looks to be wide open in reshuffled league hierarchy

Stephen Curry was back-to-back NBA MVP in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and was the NBA’s only unanimous MVP in history during his second award-winning season (sorry, Shaq).

The Golden State Warriors will need an MVP-level performance from Curry in 2019-20 if they are to remain near the top of the Western Conference. After five straight appearances in the NBA Finals and three titles over that span, the Warriors are very different entering this season.

Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala — the players who won the NBA Finals MVP awards in the title seasons — are gone. Klay Thompson is out recovering from a torn ACL for much of the season. Veterans Shaun Livingston and DeMarcus Cousins have moved on, as well.

So Curry has to adapt to a new backcourt partner in D’Angelo Russell and the reality that he’s going to see every gimmick defense in the book, given Golden State’s relative lack of other weapons.

Curry averaged 27.3 points per game last season, appearing in 69 games, which was his highest mark since the 30.1 he put up in 2015-16.

He also averaged 5.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 33.8 minutes per game while shooting 47.2 percent overall and 43.7 percent on a career-high 11.7 3-point attempts per game.

That 43.7 percent mark was also his best since 2015-16 and, oh by the way, he missed only 24 of his 287 free throw tries, a 91.6 percentage.

More may be asked of Curry than has been at any point during Golden State’s run, however. Declining Draymond Green was never more than a facilitating fourth option in the Warriors system and Russell is used to having the ball in his hands more than he will while deployed with Curry.

If Golden State can win 50-plus games and finish in the top four in the West, Curry’s will likely be a very legitimate MVP contender. If he isn’t, the Warriors won’t and the narrative will change dramatically in the franchise’s first season back in San Francisco.