Stephen Curry only plays 33 mins per game

[The_Yearning]

if he wins MVP, that has got to be the lowest mpg of any MVP winner ever.

[buddha]

pretty annoying as a fantasy owner, the kid should be playing 40 minutes a night. he's young, he should be averaging 26/10/5

[The_Yearning]

pretty annoying as a fantasy owner, the kid should be playing 40 minutes a night. he's young, he should be averaging 26/10/5

He has stamina issues.

[Heavincent]

He has stamina issues.

Um, no he doesn't. The Warriors blow out every team they play so he sits out a lot of 4th quarters.

[The_Yearning]

Um, no he doesn't. The Warriors blow out every team they play so he sits out a lot of 4th quarters.

You must not have watched any of his playoff series.

[Done_And_Done]

They're in first place and he's a front runner for the MVP award. Smells like good coaching to me...

[Bobcats2013]

You must not have watched any of his playoff series.

I never watched a Warriors playoff series and thought to myself "man my nikka curry tired"

[Dresta]

Makes sense considering the Warriors are winning by large margins to keep guys as fresh as possible for the playoffs - their depth really helps them here.

He's still the MVP thus far this year.

[JebronLames]

He might go 50/40/90.

[BigTicket]

Stars in general are playing less minutes.

Marc Gasol - 34 mpg
Westbrook - 31mpg
Durant - 31mpg
Harden - 36 mpg
Chris Paul - 34mpg
Lebron - 37 mpg
Anthony Davis - 36 mpg
Cousins - 33 mpg
Wall - 36mpg
Lowry - 35 mpg
Wade - 32mpg
Aldridge - 36mpg
Duncan - 31mpg
Lillard - 36mpg

etc.

It's a trend that Popovich started.

[Hopper15]

You must not have watched any of his playoff series.

Irrelevant. He hasn't played a playoff game under Kerr yet.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Walton is the only MVP in history to have played under 34 min per game, and he also only played 58 games that season. Hard to mess with pre-injuries Bill's play/impact though.

In fact, only 4 MVP's played under 36 min (in the season they've won it).

[plowking]

Stars in general are playing less minutes.

Marc Gasol - 34 mpg
Westbrook - 31mpg
Durant - 31mpg
Harden - 36 mpg
Chris Paul - 34mpg
Lebron - 37 mpg
Anthony Davis - 36 mpg
Cousins - 33 mpg
Wall - 36mpg
Lowry - 35 mpg
Wade - 32mpg
Aldridge - 36mpg
Duncan - 31mpg
Lillard - 36mpg

etc.

It's a trend that Popovich started.

I think you'll find it is more due to the star players now being up there in age, injured or coming back from one, or are bigger and heavier guys that can't run a game out like the smaller ones can.

Durant, Westbrook, Wade, Duncan and even Lebron all have had, or have nagging injuries this season.

Cousins and Gasol are both huge, with one not being able to stay out of trouble, and one not having the best stamina.

[Thorpesaurous]

I think some of it is that the zone rules and limited hand checking have made the most efficient offense a flow of constant side to side movement. The best way to attack these overloaded sideline defenses is to make them move side to side, and with the illegality of contact on cutters, flying across the court over and under screens has become a more valued weapon than it was in the iso and mid post days of the 90s.

All that movement requires more running, and it is likely to wear guys down more, and coaches seem to be taking note of that and are trying to adjust accordingly. Also, because of that system strength, the value of running a single guy into the ground possession after possession has probably been decreased, because the best shots really are from swinging the ball and winding up with other people shooting it more often than it used to be. Because of that the impact of sitting stars maybe has depreciated just a touch too.