Nick Young was on the Golden State Warriors for just one season, but that was long enough to both win a championship and, apparently, witness quite the battle between Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant for the 2018 NBA Finals MVP.
Those 2017-18 Warriors that included Curry, Durant and Young swept LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals for back-to-back titles. Durant won the 2017 NBA Finals MVP and, to hear Young tell it, it was coming down to the two future Hall of Famers to win it in 2018.
And then Curry had a rough Game 3, which Young said left him “damn near tears” even after a win because he knew he let the Finals MVP award slip from his hands:
Curry shot just 3-of-16 from the field for 11 points in the Game 3 win. Durant carried Golden State that night with 43 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, and it was a formality from there that he would win the individual award for the second straight season.
Andre Iguodala won the NBA Finals MVP in 2015 when Curry won his first ring, although the future Hall of Famer got one in 2022 after Durant had already gone elsewhere.
The future Hall of Famer led Golden State to a six-game victory over the Boston Celtics by averaging 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from deep.
There was no doubt Curry was the NBA Finals MVP that year, and he also has a four-to-two advantage in rings compared to Durant.
But Young said that missing out on that 2018 award impacted Curry.