Warriors Fan Vote Reveals MVP, Future Stars and the Team's Most Chaotic Personalities
A year that started with dreams of a top-four seed in the West gave way to injury and disappointment for the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry was an All-NBA lock before missing over two months with runner's knee, and Jimmy Butler went down with a torn ACL in January.
Still solid defensively with Draymond Green on the floor, the aging Dubs had a hard time scoring without their top two options. Though Golden State secured Play-In position, it doesn't profile as a contender. That's a problem as Curry's prime continues to dwindle.
You helped us commemorate a difficult Dubs year by handing out some hardware.
Who Is the Most Valuable Player?
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Winner: Stephen Curry
Despite missing multiple months, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler led the Warriors in Value Over Replacement Player and Estimated Wins. Those are cumulative stats that shouldn't favor players who lost so much time, and the Dubs' injured stars sitting atop the list of both categories illustrates how tough it was for the rest of the roster to get going.
Brandin Podziemski ran away with the lead in minutes and games, but he also had a negative Box Plus/Minus for most of the year.
Curry deservedly cruised to victory here.
Who Is Most Underrated?
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Winner: Gui Santos
Podziemski's relative durability earned him some votes here, but Gui Santos' season-long hustle and March scoring burst made him the easy winner.
Gary Payton II remained a useful defender who understood how to find scoring creases when paired with high-end shot creators. Unfortunately for him, Curry and Butler's injuries removed those types of players from Golden State's rotation.
Quietly, De'Anthony Melton became a primary ball-handler and scoring threat for long stretches this season. He didn't shoot it efficiently, but his disruptive defense made him a legitimate two-way threat.
Who Is the Best Athlete?
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Winner: Gary Payton II
Golden State's lack of conventional athleticism was a critical issue over the last several seasons. Once Jonathan Kuminga finally departed via trade, it left the Dubs with perhaps just one player capable of eliciting oohs and aahs for his bounce: 33-year-old veteran Gary Payton II.
GP II's 44 dunks were more than any other two active Warriors players combined. How he's still such a high-riser at his age is a mystery.
Pat Spencer didn't earn enough athleticism points for being one of the best lacrosse players on the planet, though Curry's elite coordination and agility got him into second place behind Payton.
Who Is Most Likely To Be a 1st-Time All-Star In the Next 5 Years?
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Winner: Brandin Podziemski
This wass a tough one for the Warriors, as all of their young talents are of the role-playing variety. Will Richard, Quinten Post and Santos all have real NBA futures, but voters couldn't imagine any of them becoming All-Stars.
Kristaps Porzingis might have been a sneaky pick if he ends up re-signing and staying healthy, but he managed his first and only All-Star trip way back in 2017-18.
Very few Dubs fans see an All-Star berth in Podz's future, but he wound up winning a weak category by default.
Who Has the Best Contract?
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Winner: Gui Santos
Moses Moody's three-year, $39 million extension was looking pretty good until he tore his patellar tendon in March, an injury that could cost him most or all of next season and compromise the balance of his career.
Payton (expiring $2.3 million) and Melton ($3.1 million; $3.5 million player option for 2026-27) were clear values, but it's highly likely both are elsewhere next season.
A fully healthy Curry is worth more than the $62.6 million he'll earn in the final year of his current deal next season, but choosing him would have been quite a stretch. Ditto for Podziemski's rookie-scale deal.
Ultimately, Santos' new deal, which will pay him an average of $5 million through 2028-29, had to be the pick. He's a rotation-level forward making less than a third of the mid-level exception.
Who Has the Worst Contract?
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Winner: Jimmy Butler
It's not a great sign that finding potential overpays on the Warriors was so much easier than picking out bargains, but that's the price of doing business—when "business" is desperately trying to extend a team's competitive prime in service of its superstar.
Curry wasn't a serious thought here, but Butler ($56.8 million next year) certainly was. He might appear in less than half of next season, likely in reduced form.
Draymond Green's offensive slippage made his $25.9 million ($27.7 million player option for 2026-27) another good candidate. He only fell four percent short of Butler's winning share.
Who Is the Best Trash-Talker?
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Winner: Draymond Green
The Warriors are a good example of how trash talk takes many forms. Curry's patented celebrations certainly fall within the category, but they're joyous and less verbal.
Draymond Green? He's more in the conventional mold.
Green will scream, gesticulate, rage at high volume and generally disrupt the proceedings if he feels he's been slighted. You can also hear him shout "Boom!" whenever he hits a three, which happens roughly once every three times he fires away. And if Draymond doesn't bark at you on the floor, you're probably going to get it on his podcast after the game.
Lastly, Pat Spencer is that MFer, and he'll let you know about it.
Who Is Most Likely To Have a Burner Account?
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Winner: Brandin Podziemski
Butler and Green are cranky enough to vent online, but they're also direct enough to do it with their names attached.
Al Horford seems too classy. Curry is above the fray.
Podziemski snuck in and took this one with 38.0 percent of the vote. Maybe he has a burner to troll detractors of his beloved Valkyries. Say one bad word about Kate Martin and @PODZVALKYRIELOVR will be all over you online.
Who Are You Taking With You Into the Zombie Apocalypse?
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Winner: Jimmy Butler
A lot of cool heads and veteran experience here, which matters in an apocalyptic situation where keeping your composure will be key. Green was too volatile to be trusted with zombies around, but he has made a career out of figuring out the best way to win. Fans couldn't discount him entirely, and he got 30.0 percent of the vote.
Ultimately, Butler survived multiple playoff series with the Heat while being so tired that he nearly qualified as undead (picture above). That gave him the edge on the field.
Who Is Most Likely To Be Playing Overseas In 2 Seasons?
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Winner: Pat Spencer
Spencer clearly wants to play basketball, even if it's his second-best sport. Voters decided that meant he's the current Warrior who'd most seriously consider playing overseas if his NBA options dried up.
Brazilian Gui Santos would have been a good pick until he earned a multi-year deal to stick in the league for several more years. Quinten Post came close to Spencer on the theory that he could probably dominate if he headed back to Amsterdam to play in the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League.
