OAKLAND, Calif. _ If you hop on a flight to Las Vegas (or if you have an internet connection and a credit card) you can lay down a bet on who will be this year's NBA MVP before the season starts on Tuesday.
The MVP odds board is a verifiable who's who of the NBA _ LeBron James has the best odds to win MVP this year, but Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and reigning MVP Russell Westbrook aren't far behind him.
Further down the list, clearly in a second, or perhaps even third tier, is a 29-year-old who has won two MVPs, one of them unanimously, and plays point guard for the best team in basketball.
His one-man basketball revolution is still happening, but the basketball world seems to have forgotten just how good Warriors guard Stephen Curry is.
I think that will be a temporary condition, though, because Curry is going to be the NBA's MVP again this season.
Curry already has a place in NBA history as the greatest shooter of all time, but after winning his second title in June and signing the first $200 million contract in NBA history in July, he arrived at Warriors training camp with something to prove.
The changes were subtle, but Curry will enter this season bigger, stronger, and most importantly, far more comfortable, both on and off the court.
"Nine years in, I should be [more comfortable] ... I don't know how it took me so long," Curry joked Sunday. "Little known fact about what I did this summer: actually, I was in the gym."
That work over the summer is poised to pay off _ to the tune of 12-to-1, if you get in early enough.
Curry's preseason form was spellbinding, and while you shouldn't read too far into the exhibition schedule, that success _ so effortless and unique and reminiscent of the 2015 and 2016 seasons _ only deepened my suspicion that Curry is going to have a monster, perhaps precedent-setting 2017-18 campaign.
It's a bold proclamation, but it's one that's been tacitly approved by Warriors general manager Bob Myers and coach Steve Kerr. (I'll take approval any way I can get it.)
"He's reached his mental peak, as far as he's seen a lot," Myers said last week. "Funny thing is, I expected him to be better. That's what he does. He's just not built to do anything but work hard. He's done it his whole life... It's a very quiet confidence, but it's powerful."
Said Kerr: "I think Steph is at his absolute peak right now. Physically, emotionally, this is probably as good as he's ever going to be, this year. I think he's better now than he was last year and the year before. And that's saying something."
You might have noticed that the so-called miraculous rise of Curry plateaued a bit last year. While Curry had a season as statistically impressive as his first MVP campaign, he was coming off arguably the greatest offensive season in NBA history _ the one that earned him the first unanimous MVP award in NBA history _ so his 25/4.5/6 line didn't resonate like perhaps it should have. As such, you even thought the rest of the league had caught up and that Curry's run as arguably the league's best player was over.
Make no mistake, he was still one of the best players in the NBA last year _ an All-Star and an All-NBA second team member _ but with the Warriors' addition of Durant, another elite player, the spotlight didn't shine as bright on Curry last year. The clearest example of that: Curry averaged 27 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds per game in the 2017 NBA Finals but didn't win Finals MVP _ Durant did, and no one questioned that decision.
That could have created tension or drama.
After all, no one was more instrumental in the Warriors' ascension from NBA afterthought to professional sports' standard bearer, and no one sacrificed more than Curry to bring Durant to the Warriors. He put ego, personal accolades, and endorsement dollars aside to help recruit Durant, knowing that the downside was what happened last year: Ignore the success, Curry was overshadowed, at times, on his own team.
But there's no grudge, no I'll-prove-you-wrong anger toward anyone on the Warriors or the NBA universe as a whole _ just joyous play and an insight-out game that's second-to-none in the league.
That said, Curry looks determined to remind everyone that he's still the most influential person in the league, this side of LeBron James, and one of the most influential players in NBA history.
"He is the most impactful offensive player in terms of what he does to the defense _ maybe ever," Kerr said. "There are guys, obviously, Michael Jordan impacted things. But the way Steph plays, [he] puts the fear of God into defenses like nobody I've ever seen.
"If you want to just say who affects the game the most offensively, Steph's the best player in the NBA...
"Nobody's been able to shoot off the dribble from 35 feet in a normal setting," Kerr said. "But he does that, which changes an entire game. Everything we do revolves around Steph. You can talk about where he stands in terms of the best players in the league. He's obviously one of the best. By that standard, he's the best."
Durant is the favorite to win NBA MVP from the Warriors' roster this season, and the rationale behind those odds is simple: now that KD is in his second year in Oakland, he should feel more comfortable and things will run smoother for him inside the Warriors' systems.
But that same, irrefutable logic should apply to Curry, too.
With that in mind, Curry's incredible 2017 playoff numbers _ he averaged 28/6/6 _ should be an expectation of things to come this season. Only one player in NBA history has put up a line like that for an entire season while also making 40 percent of their 3-pointers: Larry Bird.
The hyper-elite 50/45/90 club (that's field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, and free-throw percentage) of which only Curry and Warriors advisor Steve Nash are members (though so is Kerr, if you lower the standard) should be a goal again in 2017-18, too.
Durant should have a stellar season himself, but Curry's season could break records or invent new statistical thresholds by which all others shall be judged.
Curry's play revolutionized basketball _ as Kerr said, no one has ever played the point guard position quite like Curry _ and his best game is likely yet to come.
If we do, in fact, see Peak Curry this season, there won't be any mystery as to how or why it happened, but we'll certainly be wondering in June how or why so few foresaw it happening.
Stephen Curry is about to do something special. I'd recommend getting your tickets (or slips) early.
