Stephen Curry Making Mockery of What Could've Been Epic MVP Race

Imagine for a second that Stephen Curry didn't exist. Imagine he's not eligible for the NBA's 2015-16 MVP award.

Then, imagine the arguments.

Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook would be dominating the discussion and jostling for position, shifting momentum with every highlight and monster box score.

Those five would all be legitimate candidates for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. 

But Stephen Curry does exist, and he has rendered all other arguments irrelevant. His MVP defense, incomprehensible by most metrics, is making a mockery of what could have been one hell of a six-player battle. 

The MVP2s

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A better argument at this point: Who's the second-most valuable player in the NBA? Who is MVP2?

Durant's MVP2 case is overshadowed by Westbrook's quasi-reinvention as a playmaker, but he has one. He is once again flirting with 50/40/90 shooting averages, and this is the third time he's posting 25 points, three assists and one block per 36 minutes. 

Aside from Durant, only Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have paired those numbers in such volume.

Westbrook's credentials are better in some respects. Durant owns the superior net rating, but the Oklahoma City Thunder bleed more points without their point guard.

	PER (rank)	Box Plus-Minus	Win Shares
Kevin Durant	28 (3)	7.0 (6)	8.0 (4)
Draymond Green	20.3 (32)	6.4 (7)	6.7 (9)
LeBron James	26.5 (4)	(8.4) 4	7.1 (5)
Kawhi Leonard	25.9 (5)	8.7 (3)	8.6 (2)
Russell Westbrook	28.8 (2)	10.4 (2)	8.3 (3)

Westbrook has cut down on long twos in favor of more looks at the rim, and he's assisting on more than 45 percent of Oklahoma City's buckets when on the floor.

The last, and only other, player to do that while averaging 25 points per 36 minutes? Russell Westbrook.

Green is playing some of the most valuable basketball the NBA has ever seen. It's he, not Curry, who allows the Golden State Warriors to subvert the concept of size. He is essentially a 6'7" point center with the touch of a three-point sniper.

No player has ever matched his rebound, assist, steal and block percentages in a single season, and he is averaging a triple-double per 100 possessions—something accomplished only by James and Westbrook since the former entered the league in 2003.

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Voter fatigue is real, and already having four MVP awards to his name will forever, and unfairly, dilute James' candidacy. Still, he remains objectively great enough to force his way into any conversation.

It matters that James is averaging 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists per 36 minutes for a fifth time when no one else has done so more than three times (Oscar Robertson). It matters that he has now tied Michael Jordan for the most seasons with a player efficiency rating greater than 25.

More than anything, it matters that the Cleveland Cavaliers, a superteam on paper, go from posting a third-place net rating with James to a bottom-three differential without him. No other team—not even Curry's Warriors—fares worse without one of its MVP candidates:

Leonard's MVP argument is somewhat weakened by the San Antonio Spurs' performance without him. Their second unit ranks first in offensive and defensive efficiency, according to HoopsStats.com, and they're rarely reliant on a single player.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr nevertheless showered Leonard with the utmost praise, per CSN Bay Area's Monte Poole: "We always talk about two-way players and how important it is, especially in the modern NBA, where you can't hide a guy at either end. He's probably the best two-way player in the league now."

Green's ears are probably burning, but Kerr isn't wrong.

Leonard and Westbrook are the only players who fall inside the top five of both defensive and offensive win shares, and Leonard owns the best defensive box plus-minus (DBPM)—statistical sibling of BPM, a box score estimate of points per 100 possessions a player contributed above a league-average player, translated to an average team—among players with an offensive box plus-minus (OBPM) of at least three.

Curry vs. The Field

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Curry is somehow making none of that matter. He leads the league in PER, box plus-minus and win shares while playing through the most absurd offensive season ever.

His OBPM and PER are the highest in league history, he has the best true shooting percentage of anyone to average 30 points per game, and he's the only player other than Jordan to clear 30 points and five assists per 36 minutes.

There is a natural imbalance to these exploits. Curry grades out as a slightly above-average defender, and that's just fine. His all-around production still towers over most of his peers:

Westbrook's per-game numbers come pretty darn close to Curry's, but his own historically significant efforts aren't enough. 

And while James' Cavaliers struggle the most of any team without one of its MVP hopefuls, it's Curry's Warriors that experience the biggest boon from his presence:

Golden State is 29 points per 100 possessions better with Curry on the hardwood—the combined net rating of the Spurs (14.3), Thunder (8.5), Boston Celtics (3.7) and Indiana Pacers (2.5).

In other words, per Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal:

It Ain't Just the Stats

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So much of Curry's MVP clout is rooted in aesthetics. He has the numbers, sure. But his shot selection is fit only for him, and the contrived reckless abandon with which he plays makes it impossible to slow him down.

Even when you're a reigning Defensive Player of the Year and should-be MVP contender? Yes, even then:

Outbursts against Golden State's only perceived rival. Unguardable handles. Unfathomable range. Circus layups. Shameless dancing.

Every aspect of Curry's game and persona props up his MVP credentials—a case so overwhelming that it has turned what should be a race for the ages into one man's stomping ground.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited, and they are accurate leading into games on Jan. 26. 

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @danfavale.