PORTLAND, Ore. — On Monday morning, when it was still unclear whether Stephen Curry would even play for the Golden State Warriors that night, news began to circulate at the team’s shootaround that Curry would be named the N.B.A.’s most valuable player for a second straight season. An official announcement from the league was coming.
Draymond Green, one of Curry’s more outspoken teammates, realized that he had forgotten to congratulate Curry, but Green had an excuse.
“Because I felt like I knew since December,” he said. “It didn’t feel like this monumentous occasion.”
Give credit to Green, at least for concocting a neologism — “monumentous” — to describe another of Curry’s achievements, which seemed appropriate enough: a new word for a new type of player who is doing new things every time he takes the court, magic acts that captivate teammates and dishearten opponents.