This season may not be the best for the Golden State Warriors. But it is one of the best seasons of Warriors star guard Stephen Curry.
Despite not being in the playoffs series of the 2020-21 NBA season he surely created a huge buzz throughout regular games.
Making numerous records with his performances and receiving awards along with a nomination for the MVP award.
Not only th NBA but the fans also acknowledged his incredible season as he received another award.
Fans selected Stephen Curry as “Best NBA Player of the Year 2021” by the ESPYs.
This shows that Curry is still a fan-favorite and his performance still impresses the audience.
He beat the reigning MVP and other players to receive the award.
Besides Stephen, Russell Westbrook and Lamelo Ball also received awards from the ESPYs. This made them the only other players to receive awards from NBA.
Russell received the Best Record-Breaking Performance award for his impressive runs during his games this season.
While Lamelo Ball won Best Breakthrough Athlete as a rookie.
ESPYS
Winning championships are important for the players but what’s even more important is getting acknowledgment for the efforts that they put especially from the fans.
The ESPYS presents that acknowledgment as awards for the players that impress the fans with their amazing performance. This year too the players received the awards based on the number of votes.
The 2021 ESPYS presented by Capital One celebrated the best players, moments, coaches, and games in sports. The award winners were honored on Saturday.
And three players from the NBA received awards for their outstanding performance.
Best NBA Player of the year
ESPYS nominated Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Chris Paul, and reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.
Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry beat the other three players and received the Best NBA Player of the Year award.
Stephen Curry said,” I just wanna thank all the fans”.
“I appreciate all the love and support, looking forward to bigger and better things in the future.”
Curry added, “Knowing that I still got it. See you all next year.”
.@StephenCurry30 thanks his fans for voting for him to take home the ESPY for Best NBA Player 👏 pic.twitter.com/uweHklcu6S
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 11, 2021
He received the awards because of his incredible performance this year.
Over the course of the 2020-21 regular season, despite missing games due to injuries, he averaged 32.0 points per game, leading the league in scoring.
While also putting up 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds, shooting of 48.2 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 91.6 percent from the free-throw line.
After missing most of the 2019-2020 season with a hand injury, Stephen returned, even stronger than before.
And proved that “records are meant to be broken”.
Records Steph made this season.
Stephen Curry became the first guard since Michael Jordan (1995-96) to score at least 25 points on 50% shooting in 9 straight games.
He broke James Harden’s record of “Most threes in a month in NBA history”, dropping 85 threes.
In addition to that, he became the fastest player to reach 300 3-pointers in one season.
The most impressive one was when he made 11 30+ point games straight, breaking Kobe Bryant’s record of most 30 plus point games by a player age 33 or older.
He made many more such feats and broke NBA records this season alone.
As a result, NBA nominated him as a 2021 MVP candidate.
In the league MVP voting, he finished third behind Jokic and Joel Embiid. So, it’s no surprise that his performance touched the fans that gave him the ESPYS award.
This is Curry’s second ESPY for ‘Best NBA Player’. He won the award for the first time in 2015.
Overall, this is Curry’s third ESPY as he also won the award for ‘Best Record-Breaking Performance’ in 2016 becoming the first NBA player to win an ESPY under this category.
He received the award for his 402 made 3-pointers, the single-season NBA record.
Best Record-Breaking Performance
This year ‘Best Record-Breaking Performance’ went to NBA again as the Washington Wizards star player Russell Westbrook received the award.
Despite being eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs, Russell surely had an impressive season in the NBA.
And hence his outstanding performance caught the eyes of the NBA fans and earned him the award.
Russell Westbrook won this award for breaking Oscar Robertson’s 47-year-old record of 181 career triple-doubles.
He beat Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer passing Pat Summitt for most wins in NCAA women’s basketball history, Alabama’s DeVonta Smith’s performance in the College Football Playoff championship game, and Phil Mickelson‘s performance at the PGA Championship to win the award.
He did so in a game against the Atlanta Hawks in May, recording 28 points, 21 assists, and 13 rebounds.
At the end of the 2020-21 season, he averaged a triple-double and this is his fourth time in five years.
Confirming him as the king of triple-doubles.
In addition, Westbrook is only the second NBA player to win the ESPY for ‘Best Record-Breaking Performance’ after Stephen Curry in 2016 since the award began in 2001.
Russell thanked Oscar Robertson, his teammates, coaches, and fans for the award.
He said,” Thank You. First and foremost, I’ll like to thank the man above for allowing me and blessing me with unbelievable talent to go out and compete.”
“Super thankful for the ones before me, especially Oscar Robertson. Just wanna thank him, his sacrifice for the game, his inspiration.”
.@russwest44 takes home the ESPY for Best Record Breaking Performance after an incredible season 👏 pic.twitter.com/2oP4QTVa0b
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 11, 2021
Besides Steph and Russell, Lamelo Ball also received an award from the ESPYS.
Best Breakthrough Athlete
Along with veteran NBA players Steph and Russell, Rookie Lamelo Ball also received an award.
Charlotte Hornets Rookie Lamelo Ball surely had an incredible performance in the NBA this season. That even won him the 2020-21 Kia Rookie of the Year award.
So it’s no surprise that he added another achievement to his list after named Best Breakthrough Athlete of 2021 at the ESPYs.
Lamelo Ball was one of four athletes nominated in the Best Breakthrough category and also the only one from the NBA in the category.
He beat Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers, NFL), Chase Young (Washington Football Team, NFL), )and Crystal Dangerfield (Minnesota Lynx, WNBA).
Lamelo thanked his mom, the rest of his family, and all his supporters after receiving the award.
.@MELOD1P wins Best Breakthrough Athlete and may have had the best speech so far 😂 pic.twitter.com/ofOkyHtG6G
— ESPN (@espn) July 11, 2021
