Steph Curry. Lionel Messi.
Runner Up: Aaron Donald
I'm a Warriors fan, that is not a recent designation. The Warriors may have now completed one of the great NBA runs ever; their transcendent star won the
Finals MVP and then was as good as anyone in the league in the first half of the following season; he was just named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and he's never won my award before.
But -- Lionel Messi is also all time great, probably the all time great, who finally wins the big tournament and is its best player and has never won this award - and he's LeBron, to use an NBA comparison.
So - for the first, and I'm going to say very likely last, time in the 30+ year history of this award, we have a tie.
Here were all the monthly winners.
January-Cooper Kupp
February-Aaron Donald
March-Aliyah Boston
April-Auston Matthews
May-Connor McDavid
June - Steph Curry
July - Aaron Judge
August - Albert Pujols
September - A'ja Wilson
October - Bryce Harper
November-Jeremy Pena
December - Lionel Messi
I've been doing this...I think since '84. The full monthly records exist from 1990 forward; I posted them all here a few years ago; here's the history:
1990: Joe Montana
1991: Michael Jordan
1992: Mario Lemieux
1993: Michael Jordan
1994: George Foreman
1995: Hakeem Olajuwon
1996: Michael Jordan
1997: Tiger Woods
1998: Mark McGwire
1999: Tiger Woods
2000: Tiger Woods
2001: Barry Bonds
2002: Barry Bonds
2003: Lance Armstrong
2004: Peyton Manning
2005: Reggie Bush
2006: Roger Federer
2007: Tom Brady
2008: Usain Bolt
2009: Manny Pacquiao
2010: Maya Moore
2011: Aaron Rodgers
2012: LeBron James
2013: LeBron James
2014: Madison Bumgarner
2015: Serena Williams
2016: Michael Phelps
2017: Tom Brady
2018: Breanna Stewart
2019: Megan Rapinoe
2020: Patrick Mahomes
2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2022: Lionel Messi/Steph Curry
