Golden State Warriors: Bold predictions for a new era

2. Stephen Curry wins his third MVP award

This upcoming season, Stephen Curry will need to propel the Golden State Warriors into the playoffs and maintain relevancy more so than any other superstar has to (besides LeBron James, of course).

Losing KD and Klay to separate reasons within three days of one another during the NBA Finals diminished the Warriors’ title chances moving forward.

Now once again, since the 2015-16 season, Curry has become the front-runner to win the 2019-20 MVP award. Before KD’s arrival, Curry was playing his best basketball, just like Draymond was, averaging career-highs in several statistical categories.

In his last MVP season, Curry averaged 30.1 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 34.2 minutes per game on 50.4 percent shooting overall, 45.4 percent from deep and 90.8 percent at the free throw line across 79 appearances.

This season will be a real test for Curry to play at the highest level while not having as much help as he had the previous five seasons.

Furthermore, Curry winning the 2019-20 MVP award has a higher probability because Klay Thompson has never missed significant time due to injury throughout his NBA career, being just as durable as Draymond has been.

For the first time during the Warriors’ success, Curry will be without a No. 2 option of Klay’s caliber (unless D’Angelo Russell fills that role) for the most if not the entire season, essentially forcing him to play at the highest level in order to qualify for the playoffs and contend for another championship.

Having won two back-to-back MVP awards (one being the first-ever unanimous award) and arguably being a part of the greatest dynasty in NBA history, Curry certainly has a major shot at winning his third MVP.