Stephen Curry Fantasy News and Statistics

It’s hard to believe that the only unanimous MVP in NBA history was an afterthought at one point. But Stephen Curry defied the odds to become a global superstar with the Golden State Warriors. Even though his father, Dell, was a 16-year NBA veteran, nepotism did Steph no favors when it came time for him to pick a college. His father’s alma mater of Virginia Tech only offered him a walk-on spot, which he declined. He ended up staying close to his home in Charlotte by enrolling at Davidson College.

Curry began to creep on the national radar during his second year at Davidson when he led the 10th-seeded Wildcats to three straight upsets in the NCAA Tournament and to the Elite Eight. Curry looked 14 years old but could go off for 40 points, and even LeBron James made time during his NBA schedule to watch him play in person. In Curry’s third and final season at Davidson, he led the nation in scoring and was a consensus first-team All-American.

Despite his accomplishments and that sweet shooting stroke that his father passed down, Curry wasn’t drafted until the seventh overall pick in 2009. He was the third point guard taken, as doubts on if his game would translate to the NBA scared some teams off. The Warriors had no such doubts and immediately made him their starting point guard under head coach Don Nelson.

Curry’s first few years in the NBA were tough for a couple of reasons. He played for three different head coaches in as many seasons, and the Warriors were a combined 60 games under .500. He also struggled with injuries for the first time in his career, as recurring foot and ankle injuries forced him to miss 56 games in the 2011-12 season. Because of those injury concerns, the Warriors were able to sign Curry to a below-market $44 million contract extension that would prove to be, perhaps, the biggest bargain in NBA history.

New head coach Mark Jackson as well as some roster changes helped Curry and the Warriors make the playoffs in the 2012-13 season and for the first time in six years. The following year, Curry made his first All-Star team as the Golden State roster continued to be overhauled. In 2014-15, the Warriors named Steve Kerr their head coach, and the offense he implemented made Curry the NBA’s most dangerous player. Along the way to the franchise’s first championship in 40 years, Curry was the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game and won the season’s MVP award.

What happened in 2014-15 set the stage for the Warriors the following season. They re-wrote the NBA record books—literally—by winning a record 73 games, as Curry averaged a career-high of 30.1 points per game. He became the fifth player in history to win both an NCAA and NBA scoring title and became the first player in history to be the unanimous NBA MVP. Curry’s second MVP season didn’t end with a ring like his first MVP campaign did, but it was this year that Curry elevated his status from “great player” to “future Hall of Famer.”

His numbers took a bit of a dip in 2016-17, as the Warriors welcomed four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant into the fold. But Curry would surely take the tradeoff because Golden State’s season ended with its second championship in three years. For the fifth straight campaign, Curry led the NBA in made three-pointers en route to his fourth straight All-NBA team selection.

After thoroughly exceeding expectations through the length of his rookie contract extension, the Warriors rewarded Curry in the summer of 2017 by giving him the largest contract in NBA history. The $201 million deal will pay him more in the 2017-18 season than he made in his first six years combined. He will be 34 years old when the deal ends, but it’s hard to argue that anyone is more deserving of the contract than Curry.