NBA MVP Watch: November 4
The NBA season has jumped off to an exciting start. Some players have stood out among the rest, and have started making their early case for the NBA MVP award.
Here are three players who have been a problem on the court thus far this season.
Steph Curry
Steph Curry is proving himself to be one of the best of the best again this season. Curry has been lethal behind the arc once again this season averaging 4.9 threes a game.
Curry is undoubtedly one of the more exciting players in the league as his deep threes go viral day after day. The Warriors had an awful 2020 season without their star guard Klay Thompson.
This year, however, Curry has stepped up to the plate and placed his team on his back and got to work.
Curry has led his Warriors to win six of its first seven games and pretty soon, Curry will be joined by Thompson who is almost completely healed from his torn ACL injury.
These two can take over the league again as they did in 2016 and Curry will be a favorite in the MVP discussion if healthy.
Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler has started this season off on the right foot. If the season ended tomorrow, Butler would have to be the MVP with the numbers he is putting up.
Butler has been balling offensively, and defensively. Butler’s ability to be a dual-threat player makes him so much more valuable than the average superstar.
This season, Butler is averaging 25 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2.9 steals a game.
These stats are among the best in the league, but Butler has led his team to a fantastic start which helps in the MVP voting.
The Heat have won 6 of their first 7 games and a massive part of their success can be attributed to Butler.
If Butler can stay healthy and keep contributing his elite numbers, then be prepared to be talking about Jimmy Butler and the Heat later on in the season.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is officially back. Last year was Durant's first year back since tearing his Achilles in 2019.
There was a ton of buzz around the NBA about Durant not being fully back to his prime self. This year is a whole different story.
Durant is back to himself 100%. Durant looks more aggressive when he attacks, he looks smoother with his shots, and he just looks more confident overall.
This is the Durant NBA fans are used to. Durant has been putting up his numbers once again averaging 28.3 points a game with 8.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
The only thing in Durant’s way of winning another MVP award is his body. If Durant can stay healthy he is a lock to be in the NBA MVP conversation late in the year.
But if he gets hurt again, then all of this success will not correlate to an MVP award.
Durant is not a 82 games played player, but if he can play in over 70 games then he will be in the discussion.
Rest of the bunch
Due to it only being Week two of the NBA, there are a lot of other guys who were not mentioned that have an equal chance of winning MVP.
Some of those guys have yet to get going but some have also come out of the gate running.
Some of those players are Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies, Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks, Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
These guys have been balling so far and may just win the NBA MVP award this season.
Max Savitt is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact him, email mrs6929@psu.edu.
