Let’s get this out of the way right now. Barring a major unforeseen circumstance, Golden State forward Andre Iguodala is not winning the Finals MVP. That award typically goes to the player who averages the most points for the team that wins—Stephen Curry—or for an outstanding performance by someone from the losing team—like LeBron James would be if the series continues down the path it’s on now.
But only once has the MVP not gone to a player on the winning team, and that was Jerry West in 1969—the first year the NBA gave out such an award. And only once has the award gone to someone who averaged less than Iguodala’s current 14.6 points per game (Wes Unseld in 1978) Finals average. (One time, it went to Kobe Bryant after he shot just 6-for-24 in Game 7 in 2010, but that’s a whole other story.)
