McGrady: Curry's unanimous MVP shows how ‘watered down' NBA is

Share

Not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Not Michael Jordan. Not Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain. Not Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. Not even LeBron James.

No one until Stephen Curry had won an NBA MVP by unanimous vote.

And while it's tough to make an argument against Curry receiving all 131 votes this year, one former star tried to put the unanimous vote into perspective Tuesday afternoon. 

Tracy McGrady, while appearing as a guest on ESPN's The Jump, offered this when asked if he had a problem with Curry being the first unanimous MVP.

"For him to be that first player to get this unanimously, I think it just tells you how watered-down our league is," McGrady said.

When pressed by host Rachel Nichols, the former 15-year NBA veteran elaborated.

"Because think about when [Michael Jordan] played, [Shaquille O'Neal]. I mean, those guys really played against top notch competition. More superstars, I think, on more teams than it is in our league today," McGrady said.

Then McGrady made sure he praised Curry.

"But it’s well-deserved, because he had a hell of a season – breaking records. He’s re-writing the record book," McGrady said.

Prior to Curry, the two closest MVP votes occurred in 2000 when O'Neal fell one vote shy and 2013 when James also missed a unanimous MVP by one vote.

In 2015, Curry received 100 of the 130 first-place votes.

Contact Us