2015-16 MVP Acceptance Speech

This is an unbelievable honor. I'd like to thank everybody for being here to celebrate this with me. It's been a very fun year; obviously, we accomplished a lot. And to obviously be in the middle of a playoff run, and out here competing and striving for another banner, to kinda stop and celebrate all that went into going into this award. It is definitely special, and I wanted to be able to take that time to celebrate it and thank the people that have helped me get here and kinda just look back and reflect a little bit.

So first I wanna thank Kia and everybody, all the sports writers, journalists, who voted for me this year for this award. I looked at the list of everybody who's won MVP before, and they're legends. Guys that they're household names, and they jump off the page. And to be the first unanimous MVP award winner is something that I don't even know how to put into words. I've been--guys have been thanking me all day, and I don't really know what to say. It's just a huge honor, and something that obviously I'll remember for the rest of my life. But it's just something that I'm out here playing the game and doing what I love to do and what I've been blessed to do and given the talents to do. You never know exactly how it's gonna unfold, and you just have that faith and drive to have this and have that special attachment to first unanimous MVP award winner is definitely special, so thank you guys for voting for me.

I wanna thank God, obviously, for health, for the talents He's give me, for my family who supports me, for the things that basketball has taught me on and off the court, for the people that I've been able to meet through the game of basketball. I've been blessed in that regard through and through, so I'm just thankful for this opportunity to play the game that I love, and share that with the world, really.

I wanna thank my wife, Ayesha. Like I said last year, none of this is possible without you. You've given me the opportunity to go out here, work as hard as I do, spend the hours that I need to do, at the gym, during practice or games, on the road. Otherwise just holding down the house and doing the little things that keep our family going. You've given our two daughters something, an example to look up to as they grow up, and I don't take that for granted at all. It's definitely special to watch you do what you do every single day. The strength that you have, the patience that you have. Whether I have a good game or not, you're the same person every single day, and that means a lot to me, to be able to come home and share a life with you. So thank you very much for who you are.

My parents, Seth, Sydel, my sister who's not here with us, you guys are my rock, my support, my encouragement. Thank you for just all that you've done for me growing up and the encouragement you continue to give me. I'm blessed to have such a tight-knit family that we can talk about anything, whether we talk very frequently or not, since we're on separate ends of the country. It's a lot of moving parts, and we always stay tight and find that center and that ground that keeps us together, and I think that's something that's very special. So thank you guys for who you are as well.

I have a bunch of other family--my in-laws are here. You guys as well, thank you very much for obviously having Ayesha. The support that you've given me as well. It takes a village to raise two beautiful daughters, and with the pace of life that we have, you guys play a significant role in that. And knowing your faith and your view on life that will be passed on to my kids as well is definitely special, so thank you very much.

All the other family who are here--[?], Rach, I see everybody in front of me. Miss Caroline, who, man, talk about you for days. Being able to know that my kids are safe when we're out of the house is definitely a special moment. So all you guys play into who I am and allow me to do what I do, so thank you very much, and thank you for being here as well.

To the Warriors organization--Joe, Peter, the entire front office staff, Bob, all the workers that work upstairs at our facility, who keep this thing, this train moving every single day--this is a great organization to play for, and I think we're definitely on the right path to being one of those historic teams that people will remember for a very long time. Obviously we love to do what we do on the court, and we wanna drive that train, but you guys make it fun to be a Warrior and leave our imprint on not only the NBA, but the sports world in general. So thank you guys for everything, and let's keep this thing going.

Bob Myers, I want to specifically thank you. Just who you are as a person and the way that you've put this team together, obviously you had a lot of help, but just your vision on what a championship basketball team is, is something that should be highly noted. You obviously won Executive of the Year last year, but it goes way beyond that award. It's something that I think we see every single day. You value character, you value hard work, like you talked about, and you genuinely care for each one of us as individuals on and off the court.

The conversations that we do have when you want to talk to me, we talk about family and we talk about parenting and we talk about the challenges of what we do for a living, and it's refreshing to get that kind of advice from somebody that's in the same kind of situation that is away from the family a lot and has two daughters.

I'm a young parent and want to be the best dad that I can be, and to be able to have somebody to bounce that off of is definitely special. Even the fact that you show up for an MRI at 8:30 in the morning when you have a family of your own that you could be taking care of just speaks volumes to what you've put into this thing, and that is contagious throughout the whole organization. So thank you very much for who you are as a person and for not only the decisions you make on the court, but how you care for each individual player.

Coach Kerr, Luke, you guys put us in great positions to be successful and you put together a great staff. I know I speak for my teammates, we love coming to play for you guys every single day. We know it's going to be fun and we're going to be challenged. You're going to break a clipboard every once in a while.

It's just a great atmosphere to be a part of as a player. The freedom that you give us but also the responsibility, the appropriate fear is definitely something that has sparked this journey the last two years. So we obviously have nine more wins to get, but this is something special because of you two guys and the staff that you put together.

I want to specifically talk about Q and Nick right quick. You guys make working out and getting shots up and improving on my game every single day fun. The inside jokes that we have, the playlists that you make, Nick, the different drills that Q comes up with.

Sometimes I walk over to Q and I just walk over to him and dribble him the basketball and say, "Q, what you want to do today?" And he'll have some random name for a drill that he either knows of or he's making up, I don't even know. But I believe him and so we're just going to do it. And usually we end up getting up 100 or 200 shots whatever, we're having fun.

Throughout the course of an 82-game schedule, it can get monotonous, you can get complacent, but you guys bring that spark every single day when I walk over to my hoop and get ready to work out. So thank you guys for bringing that joy to what I do and the drive to get better every single day. Brandon and Blake as well, you're here, you guys do the same thing for me, so thank you very much.

My teammates, man these last few weeks being out killed me not being able to be out there with y'all competing. Seeing how much sacrifice y'all make every single day, the things that go into it, preparing your bodies, preparing your minds for battle every single night. You guys inspire me to keep getting better so we can get the most out of our potential every single night.

Every single one of you has different personalities and different roles on the team, but we have such a great mesh, a great combination that it's obviously work, and I think we need to appreciate what we have right now. We want to keep it together, and obviously want to see the end of this year out and finish our job and achieve our goal. But I hope we take a moment every single day when we come into the practice facility or come into games we appreciate the bond that we have and how much fun we have going out there and playing every single day.

Like a night like last night where things might not be going our way, we find a way to get it done, and that's been our MO every single game this year.

Regardless of what happens down the stretch of the season, we will be a team that will be remembered for what we accomplished. No team has done what these 15 guys on this stage have done in the history of the game. Just think about that. And when we're in it and it's hard to wrap your mind around that, but to be appreciative, I think, of what we have here and all that it takes to make that happen. It's a special time.

I know going into the locker room, all the jokes, and the guys we have a group text, it's just a fun group of guys, man. It's just fun. I think that's what makes us special. So I appreciate all your sacrifices and making me -- this trophy wouldn't be sitting here without you guys. So let's keep it going, let's win the Championship and find a way to get it done and really set our place in history with the opportunity that we have in front of us.

Talking about this year in general, it's totally different from last year. It's a different journey, there are different expectations, there were different pressures, different ups and downs. But the year really just aiming to get better and to achieve what people might not have thought we deserved last year. And I think for us and for me especially, it was one of those things where no matter how great people tell you you are or how lucky or inadequate critics say you are, whatever drives you inside and whenever you find that will to keep going, it's about not being complacent and always trying to get better, no matter how hard that mission might be.

I know my family and people that have been around me can attest to that. It's not an easy task. It's not something that you can just wake up and do. You have to push yourself and find what it is that motivates you and hold on to that every single day. That is something I'm very proud of and very appreciative of of the people that helped me get to this place.

I tried to surround myself with people that push me, that motivate me, that keep me focused on the right things in this life. I have that on this stage right here. I have that in my family, and for that, I'm extremely blessed and extremely thankful for that. This is a crazy world, and to have that kind of guidance and that kind of motivation, it's definitely allowed me to do what I do on and off the court.

So that's kind of my message is to not be complacent. People thought I couldn't be back here on this stage, and I tried to push myself and tried to achieve what could not be achieved, and that's something I'm very, very proud of. So thank you very much for this award. Thank you for supporting us every single day, and let's win a championship.