Damian Lillard doesn’t have to work too hard to find a chip on his shoulder. The Blazers superstar guard has long felt underappreciated and undervalued, going back well before he arrived in the NBA. He has always used slights and doubts to fuel him, steadily climbing the NBA ladder to be among the game’s very elite.
A year ago, Lillard enjoyed his best season as a pro, averaging 30 points and 8 assists per game on 46.3/40.1/88.8 shooting splits, dragging the Blazers to the 8-seed in the Bubble with one of the most incredible two week-long runs you’ll see from an individual player in Orlando. In the process, Lillard garnered some MVP buzz, but the Blazers struggles as a team kept him from truly entering the conversation, as he finished seventh in voting. This year, Stephen Curry is an MVP finalist for leading the Warriors to the 8-seed, averaging a league-leading 32 points per game on 48.2/42.1/91.6 shooting, along with 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Curry has gotten MVP backing from the likes of LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal, the latter of whom will scream at you for disagreeing, and he has undoubtedly been among the three to five best players this season. Still, Lillard can’t help but recognize how differently the discussion is about the Warriors being in 8th compared to Portland being in the same position in the West last season, and expects that to still result in Nikola Jokic taking home the MVP award, as he told Sam Amick of The Athletic this week.
I don’t go tit-for-tat. I just call it like I see it. I think Steph has had a great season. Obviously, there has to be a conversation about him being in the conversation. But I don’t think he wins it. At the eight seed, I just don’t see how that works. Last year, it was people like (ESPN’s) Stephen A. (Smith saying) ‘Man, I love what Dame is doing but he can’t be the MVP because they’re the eighth seed.’ You know what I’m saying? But last year, I averaged 30 points and eight assists on 46 (percent) from the field, 40 from the three-point line and 90 from free throw (it was actually 88.8). But last year, they’re like, ‘Man, we can’t consider him an MVP because they’re the eighth seed.’ And now it’s like it’s ok. For me, that’s the way that I’m looking at it. (Curry) is definitely in the conversation. There’s no way that you don’t have him in the conversation. But I think when you really look at it, and you see that Jokic has played in every game and he’s dominated the way he has, they’ve had injuries with so many guys out and missed games and he’s kept them rolling. He’s kept them where they are.
The question was posed as to whether Dame believes if Curry is getting MVP buzz then he should too, and he points out that the similarity is more to his season last year when his numbers were even more comparable to Steph’s on a similar situation. Obviously each year is different in who is in the mix, and this season’s general weirdness and how many guys missed time impacted how many players at the top of the league were in the mix for MVP — i.e., none of Brooklyn’s Big 3 played enough to merit real consideration due to injury. As such, Curry is maybe higher up than he would’ve been in a field like last year, but the point from Lillard is taken. He expects that to be the reason Steph ends up behind Jokic, who has put up ridiculous numbers himself and, as Dame points out, has kept the Nuggets in third in the West even as the likes of Jamal Murray and others have gone down with injuries.
It would be a stunner for Curry to beat out Jokic, no matter what a loud few say, and Dame’s point will likely ring true. Team success has always played a role in MVP voting, and while there’s no doubt Steph has put forth one of the best individual seasons in the league this year, he likely will finish second or third in voting.
