Naismith Hall of Famer Gary Payton says the fact that Stephen Curry's MVP award was the first via unanimous vote might be more a reflection of the times than of Curry's dominance relative to other MVPs.
Payton, speaking in interviews with Sports Illustrated Now and SiriusXM, said Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were also worthy of the distinction and that the Curry vote was "about era."
"I think all of those guys were unanimous decisions, too," said Payton, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013. "It just happened in an era that went his way."
Curry became the NBA's first unanimous MVP last week, winning the award for a second straight season. Curry and the Golden State Warriors are tied 1-1 with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. The series resumes Saturday in Oklahoma City.
"I commend him and what he's accomplished," said Payton, a nine-time All-Star who was born and raised in Oakland. "But you gotta think about who was voting for MJ, Kareem, in their time, why they wouldn't have given all their votes to those guys."
Curry, 28, swept all 131 first-place votes, including 130 from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and one from the Kia MVP fan vote. San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was second in the voting, followed by Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James.
"If you look at LeBron, what he does for his team, he does everything," Payton told SiriusXM, according to the Bay Area News Group. "I still think he's the best all-around basketball player. As we say, Stephen Curry was the best player this year, but I'm saying all around -- who gives you assists, who gives you rebounding, who gives you points, who does a lot of things for his team to have it? If you take LeBron off that team, I don't think Cleveland is a good team like that. If you take Curry off of it, uh, right now I don't know. They probably would win games. They wouldn't have won 73, but they would win a lot of basketball games."
Curry had been an overwhelming favorite to repeat as league MVP since the Warriors' record-setting 24-0 start to the season, which broke the previous record for best start to a season by nine wins. He also led the Warriors to a 73-9 mark, eclipsing the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' 72-10 record as the winningest regular season in NBA history.
Shaquille O'Neal and James fell one vote shy of unanimous selection in 2000 and 2013, respectively.
"We forgot Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points and 30 rebounds," Payton said in the SiriusXM interview. "You didn't think he was a unanimous decision? Who else ever did that and scored 100 points in one game? And he didn't even win it [in 1962]. That's what I'm trying to say.
"You look at Michael Jordan. When they set the record at 72-10 in 1996, he didn't get all the votes. So you're trying to tell me these reporters or whoever's voting that you and them guys back then, they didn't know that he was a unanimous decision? Don't blame that on Stephen Curry. Blame that on them reporters."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.