With the NBA regular season coming to a close, it is still unclear who the most valuable player really is.
Some say it’s Stephen Curry, who is leading the Golden State Warriors to the top seed in a very tough Western Conference. Curry, one of the most entertaining and effective players this century, uses pure skill and not strength or athleticism to dominate every game.
Other groups have recently said Russell Westbrook. The Thunder’s point guard has kept the team afloat despite a ridiculous amount of injuries to the team’s best players, including himself. Westbrook is nearly averaging a triple-double in 2015 and really has to do it everything himself just to keep his team in the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
And then there are others who believe Houston’s James Harden is the most valuable. Harden epitomizes the current trend in the NBA that only revolves around driving to the basket, shooting free throws and popping three pointers. He’s doing it at an incredible rate, all while keeping the Rockets in a good position for the playoffs without their center Dwight Howard.
It seems that every week, one of them will have a great stretch and take over the top spot. These three are definitely the front-runners but it’s hard to leave out Anthony Davis and Lebron James, who are also having incredible seasons.
This race reminds me a lot of the 1994 Oscars for Best Picture. It was a three-way running between Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption. These are all great movies, but Forrest Gump ended up winning the award.
It has long been debated that Forrest Gump did not have the lasting effect that the other two movies had. Pulp Fiction was the launching point for Quentin Tarantino and Shawshank Redemption is now regarded as one of the best movies of all time.
So if Harden’s the Forrest Gump of the NBA, a great season now would not age well compared to the other two. Westbrook’s season, where he would nearly average a triple-double, could be looked upon as an all-time season, but he’s just not playing for a very good team right now.
I think Curry has to be the MVP right now. His career is just starting to take off and Golden State is just too good because of his leadership for anyone else to win the award.
As long as Curry follows the career arc of Quentin Tarantino and not M. Night Shyamalan, it could just be the first of many MVP awards.
