Stephen Curry wins inaugural Magic Johnson Trophy as Western Finals MVP

Warriors guard Stephen Curry has been awarded the inaugural Magic Johnson Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2022 Western Conference Finals, the NBA announced following Game 5 on Thursday night.

The league introduced the award — along with the Larry Bird Trophy for the Eastern Finals MVP — earlier this month, and Curry has become the first-ever player to win it after leading Golden State to a 4-1 series victory over Dallas.

The award was voted on by nine local and national media members covering the series — Curry received all nine votes.

Although he only had 15 points in the Warriors’ close-out victory on Thursday, Curry was the team’s leading scorer in the five-game series, averaging 23.8 PPG on .444/.439/.840 shooting to go along with 7.4 APG and 6.6 RPG. His best performances came in Game 2 (32 points and six 3-pointers) and Game 3 (31 points and 11 assists) as he helped Golden State build an insurmountable series lead.

The Warriors are back in the NBA Finals after making it five consecutive times from 2015-19. They await the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Heat.