How Warriors star Steph Curry could make NBA history with third MVP award

Somewhere behind the puff of Michael Jordan’s cigar smoke, he’s still seething about an NBA MVP from a season he didn’t even play in.Karl Malone winning the 1997 MVP by 11 more first-place votes and 29 more points won than Jordan was a big enough insult to him that he beat Malone’s Utah Jazz over six games in the NBA Finals, won the award the next season and then famously stole the ball from him with 20 seconds left before hitting the winning shot for his sixth ring in what was Jordan’s final game in a Chicago Bulls jersey. Watching the 1998-99 season while retired for the second but not last time must have irked Michael more. History says Malone won his second MVP in 1999 – his first with Jordan out of the league. But that also was a lockout year in which the season was condensed to 50 games. Malone played 49, easily the least amount for an MVP. The shortened season also helped Malone become the oldest MVP in NBA history at 35 years old. Enjoy the stogie, MJ. We’re rewriting history and giving the honor back to Jordan when he won the award at 34 in that ‘Last Dance’ Bulls season the year prior. That still makes Jordan, as the new oldest MVP ever, three years younger than the age of 37-year-old Warriors superstar Steph Curry entering the 2025-26 season. Curry will be 38 in March and is going into his 17th season. Malone was in his 14th season when he was named MVP in 1999, and Jordan was in his 13th when he won the award in 1998. Everything Curry does goes against historical norms. So would winning his third MVP. Just like every time the ball comes off his fingertips, there’s always a chance. And a few league-wide changes to this upcoming season will already help him. Steve Kerr and others within the Warriors have expressed their anger watching Curry’s shooting hand get smacked on his follow-through without a whistle being blown. The NBA this season, in collaboration with the Coaches Association, is implementing the high-five rule. Curry already was a beneficiary in the Warriors’ second preseason game, converting a four-point play against the Portland Trail Blazers. Steph already benefitting from the new "high-five" rule change 4 pic.twitter.com/M5qJ43fBYT — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) October 9, 2025 The Warriors’ first points in their fourth game of the preseason came from three free throws by Curry on a night where he was 12 of 13 at the line in three quarters.Defenders also won’t be able to attack a shooter’s wrist after the completion of his follow-through. Curry frequently was the recipient of both defensive strategies last season while nursing a sprained thumb. “I think it’ll help Steph every game because of the relaxed rules on that the last few years, everybody’s out there just trying to hammer him on the arm,” Kerr said on Oct. 2. “It’s a good change for him, it’s a good change for everybody.”Curry shot below 40 percent on 3-pointers last year for only the second time in a full season, finishing at a paltry (sarcasm) 39.7 percent. That rule alone would have put Curry back above the 40-percent threshold with fewer misses. Another new one could also help.The honest hooper inside of Curry refuses to let grenades at the end of quarters scare him from taking a shot. Now others will be incentivized to join him. Starting this season, missed shots taken at least 36 feet with under three seconds left in the first three quarters will now count as a team attempt, no longer hurting an individual player’s field goal percentage. While others such as Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have shied away from the shot, Curry has taken 111 heaves for his career and has made six. This might not have as big of an effect on Curry’s stats as the other rule changes, but every little detail helps in chasing history.The MVP for Curry and the Warriors as a whole will be H-E-A-L-T-H. Warriors fans ought to chant those five letters before every game. Curry is the best-conditioned player in the NBA. His season also ended five and a half months ago from a hamstring injury, a soft tissue issue he had never previously dealt with. It also began back in the summer when Curry had to save Team USA at the Paris Summer Olympics to win gold. Though Curry has averaged 72 games the last two years, ideally he’d play closer to 65 this season, the minimum for awards. The perfect sweet spot in recent history would be somewhere between the 66 games Joel Embiid played in his 2023 MVP season, and the 72 Nikola Jokic played in his 2021 MVP season. Winning matters, too. The Nuggets won 47 games in Jokic’s first MVP season and were the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. When Embiid took it from him, the 76ers won 54 games and were the No. 3 seed in the East. The latter number would be more than enough from the Warriors for Curry to be in the MVP conversation. Not 47. That many wins would have been the reward of the No. 9 seed in the West last season. The magic number of wins the Warriors should be aiming for is 50, the same amount the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 seeds in the West just were. Not even a glimpse of the finish line is in Curry’s sights, and yet, the upcoming season is the 10-year anniversary since he won his second straight MVP and became the first unanimous winner. His everyday why a decade later is in 20/20 vision. “The work you put in, love of the game, being around great people in this organization. Still keeping winning as the priority,” Curry said at Warriors Media Day, talking about his evolution since then. “And blessed to still hopefully be in that situation for a couple more years.” If Curry plays enough games, the Warriors win enough games and he resembles the player jolted to life by the powers of Jimmy Butler, he’ll be on the ballots. Curry’s stats to end the season with Robin at his side were comparable to or better than his first MVP season. Over his final 28 games, where the Warriors went 22-6, Curry averaged 27.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 47.3 percent overall, 40.8 percent from three and 92.4 percent on free throws. The bright lights were on and Curry was at center stage, where he thrives most.Curry knew he had a chance to compete for another title soon after feeling Butler’s fit, and he has the same feeling again. Only on a better, but possibly more brittle, team.History books are used to making room for Curry etching his name on its pages by now. The odds are more against him than ever, and the road he’s about to turn on has never been traveled. Curry has the keys in his hands and the show’s about to begin. Enjoy the ride.Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

How Warriors star Steph Curry could make NBA history with third MVP award

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