During the 2010s, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were the greatest rivalry in sports. Stephen Curry and LeBron James met in the 2015, 2017, 2017, and 2018 NBA Finals, with the Warriors winning three of the series.
While Curry and James were certainly the main attractions, both superstars had high-level supporting casts around them. Often forgotten behind Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, and Andre Iguodala was sharpshooter Matthew Dellavedova, who went up against the Warriors in 2015 and 2016.
At the age of 34, he is still playing high-level basketball in Australia.
"Delly" averaged 5.1 points and shot an uncharacteristically low 21.9 percent from 3-point range in his Finals appearances for the Cavaliers. He has since become the face of Australian basketball, playing a key role on their Olympic teams and recently leading Melbourne United to the NBL Finals, where they would lose to the Illawarra Hawks.
Despite losing the series, Dellavedova was awarded the Finals MVP medal for averaging 14 points, four rebounds, and six assists. However, he believed the winner of the series should get the MVP award, and gave his trophy away.
Wow.
Matthew Dellavedova was named NBL Finals MVP despite his Melbourne United Club losing the title to the Illawarra Hawks.
However, Dellavedova said Hawks guard Hawks guard Will "Davo" Hickey was more deserving of the award. Delly then walked off stage with his MVP trophy and… pic.twitter.com/GtGLCNtBVY
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) March 23, 2025
William Hickey is Dellavedova's teammate on the Australian national team and plays in both the NBL and New Zealand League.
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In the NBA, only Jerry West has won Finals MVP while being on the losing side, although Delly's former teammate, LeBron James, could have won it in any of the series he played against the Warriors, although Durant and Iguodala instead took home the hardware.
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This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 9:51 AM.