The Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who led the team to the best regular-season record in NBA history, has won the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the second year in a row, the NBA announced on Tuesday. He is the first unanimous winner in the award’s 61-season history.
Curry, the 11th player to win back-to-back MVP awards, joins Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Steve Nash as the only guards to earn the honour in consecutive seasons.
Curry swept all 131 first-place votes (1 310 points), including 130 from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada, and one from the Kia MVP fan vote.
The San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard finished second with 634 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James was third with 631 points.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (486 points) and Kevin Durant (147) rounded out the top five. Players received 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five points for each third-place vote, three points for each fourth-place vote and one point for each fifth-place vote.
The 28-year-old Curry helped the Warriors finish a historic 73-9 by leading the NBA in scoring (30.1 ppg), three-pointers made (an NBA-record 402), free throw percentage (90.8) and steals (2.14 spg), along with averaging 6.7 assists and a career-high 5.4 rebounds in 79 games.
He shot a career-high 50.4 percent from the field, the NBA’s highest mark among guards, and made 45.4 percent from three-point range, good for second in the league.
Curry became the seventh qualifying player in NBA history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 90 percent from the foul line.
Behind Curry, the reigning champion Warriors opened the season with 24 straight victories – one of many NBA records they broke on their way to the all-time single-season wins mark. They set NBA records for single-season road victories (34) and consecutive home regular-season wins (54, including 18 to finish last season).
Golden State also became the first team in NBA history to go an entire season without losing back-to-back games or losing to the same team twice.
In yet another NBA record, the Warriors made 1 077 three-pointers, becoming the first team with 1 000.
Curry powered the attack with his 402 three-pointers, shattering his own single-season league record of 286 set last season – an increase of 116.
Along with leading the NBA in three-pointers made for the fourth season in a row, Curry extended his streak of regular-season games with a three-pointer to an active league record of 152 straight games.
Curry’s other accomplishments this season included:
• He became the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals in a season, joining Rick Barry (1974-75), Michael Jordan (three times) and Dwyane Wade (2008-09).
• He became the first Warriors player to lead the NBA in scoring since Barry in 1966-67.
• He improved his scoring average by 6.3 points from last season (23.8 ppg), the largest year-over-year increase in league history for a reigning Kia NBA MVP.
• He matched the NBA single-game record for three-pointers made, hitting 12 (including the last-second game-winner) in a 121-118 overtime victory over the Thunder on February 27.
Curry receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honour of the NBA’s first commissioner, who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963.
For the seventh consecutive season, the NBA and Kia Motors America (KMA) gave fans the opportunity to submit votes for the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award by ranking their top five choices on NBA.com, Twitter or Google. The fan vote counted as one vote toward determining the winner.
2015-16 KIA NBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD RESULTS
NAME
FIRST
SECOND
THIRD
FOURTH
FIFTH
POINTS
1 Stephen Curry (Golden State)
131
–
–
–
–
1,310
2 Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio)
–
54
34
26
8
634
3 LeBron James (Cleveland)
–
40
48
34
9
631
4 Russell Westbrook (OKC)
–
29
37
28
14
486
4 Kevin Durant (OKC)
–
2
7
22
32
147
5 Chris Paul (LA Clippers)
–
4
3
9
37
107
6 Draymond Green (Golden State)
–
2
–
6
18
50
7 Damian Lillard (Portland)
–
–
1
4
9
26
8 James Harden (Houston)
–
–
1
1
1
9
9 Kyle Lowly (Toronto)
–
–
–
1
3
6
Below is the list of all-time winners:
ALL-TIME KIA NBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD WINNERS
Season – Player, Team
1955-56 – Bob Pettit, St. Louis
1956-57 – Bob Cousy, Boston
1957-58 – Bill Russell, Boston
1958-59 – Bob Pettit, St. Louis
1959-60 – Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia
1960-61 – Bill Russell, Boston
1961-62 – Bill Russell, Boston
1962-63 – Bill Russell, Boston
1963-64 – Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati
1964-65 – Bill Russell, Boston
1965-66 – Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia
1966-67 – Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia
1967-68 – Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia
1968-69 – Wes Unseld, Baltimore
1969-70 – Willis Reed, New York
1970-71 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee
1971-72 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee
1972-73 – Dave Cowens, Boston
1973-74 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee
1974-75 – Bob McAdoo, Buffalo
1975-76 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers
1976-77 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers
1977-78 – Bill Walton, Portland
1978-79 – Moses Malone, Houston
1979-80 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers
1980-81 – Julius Erving, Philadelphia
1981-82 – Moses Malone, Houston
1982-83 – Moses Malone, Philadelphia
1983-84 – Larry Bird, Boston
1984-85 – Larry Bird, Boston
1985-86 – Larry Bird, Boston
1986-87 – Magic Johnson, L.A. Lakers
1987-88 – Michael Jordan, Chicago
1988-89 – Magic Johnson, L.A. Lakers
1989-90 – Magic Johnson, L.A. Lakers
1990-91 – Michael Jordan, Chicago
1991-92 – Michael Jordan, Chicago
1992-93 – Charles Barkley, Phoenix
1993-94 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1994-95 – David Robinson, San Antonio
1995-96 – Michael Jordan, Chicago
1996-97 – Karl Malone, Utah
1997-98 – Michael Jordan, Chicago
1998-99 – Karl Malone, Utah
1999-00 – Shaquille O’Neal, L.A. Lakers
2000-01 – Allen Iverson, Philadelphia
2001-02 – Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2002-03 – Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2003-04 – Kevin Garnett, Minnesota
2004-05 – Steve Nash, Phoenix
2005-06 – Steve Nash, Phoenix
2006-07 – Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas
2007-08 – Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
2008-09 – LeBron James, Cleveland
2009-10 – LeBron James, Cleveland
2010-11 – Derrick Rose, Chicago
2011-12 – LeBron James, Miami
2012-13 – LeBron James, Miami
2013-14 – Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City
2014-15 – Stephen Curry, Golden State
2015-16 – Stephen Curry, Golden State
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