J.R. Smith stirs up controversy during a Twitter exchange with a fan. Smith boldly stated that Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins should have won the 2021-22 NBA Finals MVP trophy. He implied that superstar Stephen Curry deserved zero of the four Finals MVP awards during the Warriors’ championship runs. Smith sparked strong reactions from fans who disagreed favorably with this hot take.
After Smith tweeted, “Y’all care about perspective way more than facts which makes y’all weird.” A fan responded to Smith with his perspective:
“My perspective on 3-pointers is that they’re inconsistently more efficient than 2’s,” the fan tweeted. “The data that supports my perspective is a scan of Stephen Curry’s game logs. It’s a roller coaster of accuracy, and he’s the best to ever do it. Explains him only having 1 FMVP out of 4.”
J.R. Smith followed up with a tweet seemingly agreeing with the fan. He downplayed Stephen Curry’s accomplishments in all four of Curry’s NBA Finals visits:
“Well 1! Iggy had a better finals offense and defense in the first one,” Smith tweeted. “And K.D. was K.D. for 2 so that only leaves the one that he was warned and no disrespect to him but to me Wiggins would have won the last one. but that’s just me.”
The argument for Andrew Wiggins winning the 2021-22 NBA Finals MVP
Smith’s suggestion that Wiggins should have won the award is based on Wiggins’ impressive performance in the 2021-22 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Wiggins averaged 18 points, nearly 9 rebounds, and 2 assists in 6 games. His’ much-needed shooting and gritty defense on Celtics’ star Jason Tatum were critical to the Warriors hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Wiggins’ 2022 Finals performance was significant enough to earn him a four-year, $109 million contract extension with the Warriors. Andrew Wiggins completed a spectacular season and was named to his first All-Star team. Yes, it’s true: Golden State most likely would’ve lost the 2022 Finals without Andrew Wiggins’ muscle. However, it’s also true that Stephen Curry was the heart of the championship run, and the stats show he was undeniably deserving of his first Finals MVP trophy.
Why Stephen Curry Was Deserving of the 2021-22 NBA Finals MVP
Stephen Curry averaged 31 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 6 games in the 2022 NBA Finals. He became just the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in multiple NBA Finals. Only Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Jerry West have achieved this.
Curry also shot an impressive 43% from three while making clutch baskets to lead the Warriors to the goal and secure a Finals MVP trophy that was infamously painting him as a poor playoff performer in basketball discussions.
Still, the most impressive stat that made Stephen Curry stand out as the clear-cut winner of the 2022 Finals MVP is that all of Curry’s three-pointers could’ve been made two-pointers, and he still would’ve been the leading scorer in the NBA Finals. His 187 total points throughout the Finals would have been 156 points if every three was a two-point shot.
Here are the next five players on the list:
- Jaylen Brown: 141
- Jayson Tatum: 129
- Andrew Wiggins: 110
- Klay Thompson: 102
- Marcus Smart: 91
J.R. Smith has experienced firsthand the brilliance of Stephen Curry, but despite these incredible stats, he still believes Andrew Wiggins should have won Curry’s 2022 Finals MVP trophy. Smith’s opinion didn’t sit well with many NBA/Warriors fans, who mostly replied expressing their disagreements with stereotypes and memes.
Discussion about this post