Stephen Curry Says Rockets' Kevin Durant Deserved Both Finals MVPs

Houston Rockets All-NBA forward Kevin Durant shook up the basketball world when he decided to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Granted, Durant was an unrestricted free agent, thus was able to choose his next basketball home.

Durant had yet to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy, despite having won four scoring titles and the MVP. Not to mention seven straight All-Star teams and five consecutive First-Team All-NBA selections, the latter of which is a mere impossible task.

The Warriors were coming off a colossal letdown in the 2016 NBA Finals -- fumbling a 3-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers. To make matters worse, Golden State had the best record in NBA history at 73-9.

They were the best team ever. They should've been able to seal the deal. 

With Durant in the fold, they made it to three consecutive NBA Finals, winning the first two over the same LeBron James-led Cavaliers. They lost their last one to the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors but they weren't the same team, as they were ravished by injuries. 

Klay Thompson tore his ACL mid-series, DeMarcus Cousins was playing on an injured quad, and Durant tore his Achilles in Game 5 of the series.

In their two titles with Durant, however, he was clearly Golden State's best player. His multiple Finals MVPs are the perfect illustration and illumination. There's been an endless amount of dialogue regarding whether Stephen Curry should've been the recipient of those trophies, but Curry hasn't chimed in on the matter. 

At least until now. Curry addressed it during an interview in China.

"The idea of that being a conversation, I couldn't run from it. It was something that was always front of mind because we had been to four straight NBA Finals and won three out of four. 

2018, I guess I was close. I had a bad Game 3, KD played unbelievable the entire time. It goes into that conversation. 

In the sense of in that moment, if you're playing for a Finals MVP, you're probably not gonna get it done because you'll get distracted, might sabotage yourself a little bit.

So, I never really thought about it that much. In '18, I got close to thinking about it.

I'd rather have rings, obviously, and the opportunity to get rings. But KD, two, beyond well-deserved Finals MVPs."

This is pretty telling, as Curry is admitting that he's had thoughts about not getting those Finals MVPs that Durant won. But he ultimately got one in the end, winning a title and Finals MVP with a far-less talented team in 2022.