Steph Curry finishes 9th in MVP voting

Where would he have finished with better health?

We’ve known ever since Steph Curry suffered an injury in December that the Golden State Warriors superstar wouldn’t collect his third MVP trophy this year. He simply didn’t have enough playing time to earn the votes.

But he played well enough all year to garner votes, and that’s exactly what he did. The 2022-23 NBA MVP was announced on Tuesday, shortly before the Dubs game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and Curry finished ninth. Curry earned votes from three of the 100 media members tasked with filling out a five-player ballot. He took home one fourth-place vote and two fifth-place votes for a total of five points.

It’s the 10th time in Curry’s career that he’s earned MVP votes. He won the award in 2015 and 2016, finished third in 2021, fifth in 2019, sixth in 2014 and 2017, eighth in 2022, 10th in 2018, and 11th in 2013. His second career season, in 2010-2011, is the last time that he was healthy and didn’t get an MVP vote.

It’s not hard to see why Curry appeared on some ballots: he averaged 29.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game, while shooting 42.7% on threes. It’s also not hard to see why he didn’t finish higher than ninth: he missed 26 games, and the Warriors finished in a three-way tie for the 11th-best record in the NBA.

The winner this year was, justifiably, Joel Embiid, who collected his first win after finished runner-up to Nikola Jokić in each of the last two years. With Embiid now an MVP, there are six active MVPs still in the playoffs: Curry, Embiid, Embiid’s teammate James Harden, Curry’s current opponent LeBron James, Jokić, and the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant. There are nine active NBA players who have won the award: those six, plus Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, and Derrick Rose.

Here’s the final standing for the 12 players who received MVP votes this year:

1. Joel Embiid — Philadelphia 76ers2. Nikola Jokić — Denver Nuggets3. Giannis Antetokounmpo — Milwaukee Bucks4. Jayson Tatum — Boston Celtics5. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — Oklahoma City Thunder6. Donovan Mitchell — Cleveland Cavaliers7. Domantas Sabonis — Sacramento Kings8. Luka Dončić — Dallas Mavericks9. Steph Curry — Golden State Warriors10. De’Aaron Fox — Sacramento KingsT-11. Jalen Brunson — New York KnicksT-11. Ja Morant — Memphis Grizzlies