NBA MVP Ladder Week 4: DeMar DeRozan makes his unexpected debut

2 of 6

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors. Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images /

Week 4 NBA MVP Ladder: 1. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Last Week: 1st

Stats: 28.7 points per game (2nd), 6.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.7 steals, 5.4 three-pointers on 40.6 three-point shooting

Stephen Curry led the way a week ago and he does yet again. He stumbled a bit with a cold shooting night against the Charlotte Hornets, but rebounded with a fiery 37 points Tuesday night against old teammate Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, a performance which included nine three-pointers. Someone should have reminded Durant that the Warriors always beat James Harden before the Nets traded for him.

After leading the league in scoring last season, Curry is once again first in the league this season, as his 28.7 points are just a hair above Durant’s 28.6. Curry’s usage rate is right in line with his second MVP season in 2015-16 when the Warriors went 73-9.

No one was expecting that from this team, especially with Klay Thompson not back for some weeks yet, but their net rating of +13.2 is 4.9 points higher than the second-place Utah Jazz. This team is for real.

Not all of the public all-in-one metrics are out yet, but Curry is third in Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), fourth in win shares per-48 (and second in total win shares), and has 11 more 3-pointers than anyone in the league.

He’s having another incendiary season, warping defenses and opening up things for his teammates. Defensively he is perhaps putting together his best performance yet, at least since that second MVP season. Behold the wonder of Stephen Curry.