BOSTON — Looking back, Jeff Van Gundy admits he was thoroughly surprised when Andre Iguodala was announced as MVP of the 2015 NBA Finals.
Surprised, he says, because he was certain LeBron James would win it.
“Actually, I was shocked that it wasn't for LeBron,” says Van Gundy, ESPN’s lead NBA analyst. “That's just me. I didn't think it was a hard decision.”
Perhaps not a hard decision for Van Gundy (though other voters that night were very much torn). But absolutely a polarizing decision, one that still provokes controversy, confusion and even conspiracy theories all these years later.
Van Gundy was one of four voters who cast ballots for James on June 16, 2015, believing the Cavaliers superstar was the best player in the series, despite losing in six games to the Warriors.
The other seven voters chose Iguodala, the Warriors’ do-everything swingman, whose insertion into the starting lineup in Game 4, and his defense on James, helped turn the series around—from a 2–1 deficit to a 4–2 victory.
That meant Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ franchise star and MVP of the regular season, got votes—an act of pure heresy to Curry loyalists, who have never forgiven the snub. It remains a hot topic on social media and talk shows, reigniting whenever Curry’s legacy is discussed.
And it’s lurking again now, with the Warriors and Celtics tied at 2–2 in the NBA Finals. Curry has been absolutely electric, averaging 34.3 points and 6.3 three-pointers per game. If the Warriors win the title, Curry will almost certainly win MVP—filling the one glaring hole on his resume.
Curry has three championship rings and two regular-season MVP trophies but zero Finals MVPs. Teammate Kevin Durant took the honor in both 2017 (unanimously) and 2018 (with seven votes, to Curry’s four).
That fact didn’t prevent Curry from making the NBA’s “75 greatest” list, nor will it impair his Hall of Fame chances. His legacy is quite secure. The missing trophy also doesn’t seem to bother Curry nearly as much as it irks his most fanatical backers.
“No matter who wins it, it’s so much joy in that moment, you want to be able to experience it,” Curry recently told ESPN. “That smaller (MVP) trophy isn’t the motivation at all, but you know what comes with winning the big one.”
But the debate still rages. So we figured it was worth asking the 2015 voters to reflect on their decision, the still-simmering debate and whether they have any second thoughts, seven years later.
The Iguodala voters were:
Hubie Brown of ESPNSam Amick (then of , now with )Ken Berger (then of CBSSports.com)Jason Lloyd (then of the , now with )Marc Spears (then of , now with ESPN’s Andscape)Marc Stein (then of ESPN.com, now on Substack)Rusty Simmons (then with the )
The James voters were:
Van GundyZach Lowe (then of , now with ESPN)Steve Aschburner of NBA.comAnd me, Howard Beck (then with )
We asked everyone the same basic questions for this piece, either by email or in person. The answers from eight of the 11 are below. Brown politely declined to participate, feeling that the choice was made (and correctly, in his view) and there was no point in revisiting it. Spears provided one statement via email, which is included below. I won’t quote myself here, but suffice to say that I stand by my vote for James, for many of the reasons laid out by my colleagues.
Interviews were conducted between Games 1 and 2. The responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Stein: Very seriously. Those Warriors revolved around Steph and frankly they still do. But I ultimately went with Iguodala, because he changed the series when he became a starter. People forget he scored 25 points in the clinching Game 6 win. People also forget that the Warriors were a shaky mess at 2–1, down against a heavy underdog that won TWO games without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to take a series lead. Iguodala changed the series, and that's why he got my vote.
Lowe: Very seriously. If I had voted for a Warrior, I’d have voted for Curry. I just thought what LeBron did, getting that Cavs team without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love a 2–1 lead—and keeping them competitive in all but one of their four losses—was pretty remarkable. Too many people focus on LeBron’s shooting percentages in that series, which were not great. They weren’t horrid either, and he was doing pretty much everything.
Spears: There was no other NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP or final season award vote that I have agonized over more than this one. There was not a lot of time to think about it, either. Ultimately, the defensive impact of Iguodala on LeBron swayed me. But it was by a nose.
Berger: For me, LeBron was the runaway leader in the clubhouse after the first three games. How could he not have been after putting up 44-8-6 in 45 minutes, 39-16-11 in 50 minutes, and 40-12-8-4 in 46 minutes? Steph was the best player on the Warriors through three games … but not even close to the best player in the series. The series changed when Steve Kerr inserted Iguodala into the starting lineup in Game 4. In that pivotal game, LeBron was human (20-12-8 in 40 minutes) as the Warriors tied the series at 2–2 and avoided the dreaded 3–1 deficit. So at that point, Curry was a distant second to LeBron in my MVP thoughts. I wasn't thinking Iguodala … yet.
Lloyd: If the Cavs had gotten it to a Game 7 and stretched the series as far as it could go (as Jerry West did the year he won it in a losing effort), LeBron would’ve gotten my vote, regardless. The fact the Cavs lost in six, and three straight to end the series, eliminated him from my ballot. So then it became Steph or Iggy. The fact remains the entire series swung on Iggy entering the Warriors’ starting lineup. When Iguodala was off the court in these Finals, LeBron shot 44% and the Cavs outscored the Warriors by 30 points. When Iguodala was on the court, he was James’s primary defender and LeBron shot 38%—and the Warriors outscored the Cavs by 55. Without Iguodala, the Cavs win the series. That’s pretty valuable to me, even if it doesn’t fit the narrative today.
Aschburner: I considered Curry as seriously as any of the players in that series. I think I heard the Iguodala chatter, but wasn’t persuaded. My view of Curry was that he had been good, but not GREAT, and had had plenty of help at various points in the series. Meanwhile, LeBron had little or no help with Kyrie out after one game and Kevin Love not available at all.
Simmons: I barely considered Curry, but I definitely waffled on whether I was voting for the NBA Finals’ player or player. LeBron James was clearly the best player in the series, and Andre Iguodala was clearly the most valuable player to the winning team in the series. Curry was ultimately not part of my choice, even with the understanding that he got the Warriors to a place that they hadn’t been for 40 years. He simply was not among the most impactful players in that best-of-seven series, and I believe that’s what I was called to vote on.
Amick: After three games, it just felt like LeBron was eviscerating the Warriors; and more importantly, that Steph was getting mauled in this matchup, and he had a really bad Game 2. Games 1 and 3 looked fine in the box score, but defensively, he was getting picked on a bit. The thing that gets overlooked a bit is that when (Andrew) Bogut was in there, it was inviting the Cavs to trap with Tristan Thompson and making life really tough on Steph. So when Iguodala entered the starting lineup in Game 4, it wasn’t just a case of slowing LeBron a little bit, it was also that on the offensive end, he was spacing the floor and making things easier on Steph.
Van Gundy: I thought it was clear cut (for James). And then the next clear-cut one was, if it was from the Warriors, it was Curry. But you’re also happy for a guy like Iguodala, who’s had a terrific career, and he played great. My second pick would have been Curry. Sometimes when you don’t play to the level—this incredibly high level of expectation that he’s created for himself—you get overscrutinized. And I think that’s been him a lot in his career.