NBA: Who are the greatest NBA players to fall short in the playoffs?

Win an NBA Finals MVP: Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry was never voted for the award despite his three NBA championships and five NBA Finals appearances. In each of his title runs, he came close. In the 2017 and 2018 Finals, he was playing alongside Kevin Durant who stole the show.

He came closest in terms of on the court performance in the 2015 Finals. However, he lost out to swingman Andre Iguodala who became the first recipient to come off the bench during the Finals. The veteran scored much less than Curry and received the award primarily for his extraordinary defense on LeBron James. Interestingly, James also got votes, despite being on the losing team that year.

Another great player who didn’t win the Finals MVP was Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. The award was first introduced in his last season. Even though he was the engine on the winning team, he lost the award to Los Angeles Lakers guard Jerry West.

This is the only time that the Finals MVP has gone to a player on the losing team and can be attributed to the deciding vote being held before the Finals were over for an unexplained reason. They renamed the award after him, in part crediting him for his unprecedented and unmatched eleven championships.