45 Points and a Ring: Jalen Brunson's MVP Win Exposes the Steph Curry Injustice Nobody in the League Is Talking About

Okay, so Jalen Brunson just snagged the 2026 Finals MVP, and listen, the guy earned it. Forty-five points in that closeout game against the Spurs? Clutch! He was the absolute heart of that team, plain and simple. But here's the thing, the real talk, the stuff nobody wants to admit: Brunson was wildly inefficient for the first three games of that series, right? Yet, the media, the voters, everyone gave him a pass. A grace that was conspicuously, offensively, absolutely *denied* to Steph Curry 11 years ago. Brunson's unanimous MVP isn't just a celebration, it's a giant spotlight on the straight-up hypocrisy of Finals MVP voting, and it's time we called it out.

The Numbers Don't Lie, and They're Screaming

Let's throw down some cold, hard stats, because this is where the picture gets infuriatingly clear. For Brunson, we're talking 32.6 points per game, a .536 True Shooting percentage, and a +8 Plus/Minus. His teammate, OG Anunoby, put up 21.2 PPG on a crazy .714 TS%, but had a -17 Plus/Minus. Now, flash back to 2015 and Steph Curry: 26.0 PPG, a *more efficient* .585 TS%, and a staggering +52 Plus/Minus. The guy who *actually won* that MVP, Andre Iguodala, had 16.3 PPG, a .588 TS%, and an even crazier +62 Plus/Minus. Here's the kicker: In NBA history, if your team's leading scorer dropped 40 or more points than your second-leading scorer in a winning Finals series, that leading scorer *always* won Finals MVP. Except for Steph Curry in 2015. They denied him, citing "perceived lack of efficiency" and Iguodala's defense. But hang on a second, Curry was *far more efficient* than Brunson! Anunoby was also *far more efficient* than Iguodala! And the defensive "gap" between Iguodala and Curry? It was basically the same as the gap between Brunson and Anunoby. And don't even try to pull the "clutch" card, because Curry's 10.8 fourth-quarter points per game were almost identical to Brunson's 11.2! This isn't rocket science, people, it's a slap in the face.

Perception Is Everything, and It Robbed a Legend

So, what gives? Why did Brunson get his due, and Curry get straight-up robbed? It comes down to two things: how these star guards were perceived as offensive engines attracting wild defensive attention, and how they were viewed after just three games. In 2015, Curry was not given nearly enough credit for being the ultimate offensive engine. The Cavaliers literally chose to leave Iguodala and other Warriors wide open just to deny Curry *any* air space, even 40 feet from the basket! Brunson, no doubt, got more defensive attention than any other Knick. That attention absolutely created great offense, and it's fair to say a lot of Anunoby's offense came directly from Brunson's playmaking. But it wasn't the same level as what Steph faced. The real gut punch? When the Warriors fell behind 2-1 in 2015, the narrative immediately spun that Curry was being "locked up" by Matthew Dellavedova, that the MVP needed saving. It was a perception shift that cemented his MVP theft. Brunson got to be the hero, while Curry, for basically the same statistical output and a more challenging defensive load, became the goat. The league owes Steph an apology for that one.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.