Winning back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player awards—as Steph Curry did Tuesday—is rare but not unique. There are actually 11 players, not including Curry, who have been named NBA MVP in consecutive seasons. It happened as recently as just a few years ago when LeBron James claimed the honor in both 2012 and 2013.
What is unique, however, is that Curry claimed this year’s MVP award in unanimous fashion. The amiable, engrossing Warriors point guard received all 131 first-place votes, which is something that no other NBA player has ever done. Not MJ or LeBron. Not Magic or Bird. Not Kobe or Shaq. There was always at least one dissenter during the MVP voting process.
Only the 28-year-old, 190-pound guard who was overlooked coming out of high school, overlooked coming out of Davidson, and overlooked by his former head coach Mark Jackson during his early years in the NBA was able to so clearly impress an entire panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. It's pretty amazing to think that, over the last 60-plus years, Curry is the first and only player to accomplish what he just accomplished.
In honor of Curry's historic moment—it feels like he's starting to make history every day now, doesn't it?—we decided to take a look back to see how close some of the NBA's other biggest superstars came to winning unanimous NBA MVP awards during their playing days. Scroll down to see for yourself.
Michael Jordan
LeBron James
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Wilt Chamberlain
Shaquille O’Neal
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kobe Bryant
Bill Russell
Kevin Garnett
