Here is why. When we rate players, we have a historical bias toward physical archetypes. We love the 6’9" do-it-all forward (LeBron, Bird). We worship the back-to-the-basket big man (Shaq, Hakeem). We romanticize the mid-range assassin with the unguardable fadeaway (Jordan, Kobe).
In 2017 and 2018, Kevin Durant won. Fair enough—Durant was an alien. But once again, the defense was geared toward Curry. The Cavs famously chose to leave Kevin Durant wide open for dunks to prevent Curry from getting open threes. Ty Lue admitted it: "Steph is the head of the snake." Stephen Curry- Underrated
The problem is that we grade defense on "lockdown" ability. Curry is not a lockdown guy. He is a system defender—smart, physical, disruptive. He is the point guard version of a safety in football. He breaks up plays before they happen. Here is why
Stephen Curry has a legitimate argument for three Finals MVPs (2015, 2022, and 2017 if you value gravity over raw scoring). He has zero, because the award measures the box score, not the fear he instills. Part V: Longevity vs. Peak One of the quiet arguments against Curry is that his "peak" was shorter than LeBron’s or Jordan’s. He didn’t start dominating until age 26. He had injury-plagued seasons. We worship the back-to-the-basket big man (Shaq, Hakeem)
From 2015 to 2025, Curry transformed himself into a positive defender. He leads the league in deflections per game among point guards. He has elite hands. He understands angles. He has a 6’3" wingspan that he uses to strip bigger players in the post.
We have since watched the Warriors system collapse without him (the 2019-20 season, when they won 15 games) and flourish in weird lineups because of him. Yet the narrative persists.
Because he isn't screaming and flexing, we assume he isn't trying. This is the quiet disrespect that follows him everywhere. Here is the final, uncomfortable truth. When the history of basketball is written in 50 years, they will not rank players by "rings" or "MVPs" the way we do now. They will rank them by inflection points —moments where the sport changed direction.