CSN Bay Area

If Hall of Famer Charles Barkley could cast a vote now for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award this season, Stephen Curry would be his pick. 

In a radio interview on Friday with The Beast 980 in Los Angeles, Barkley was defending his reasoning why Clippers point guard Chris Paul should not have made the All-Star roster which led to his thoughts on Curry.

"Chris Paul doesn’t deserve to make the All-Star team," Barkley said. "I love Chris. I’ve said that he’s the best leader we’ve got in the NBA now, but he’s not an All-Star this year. There are too many guys head of him. Steph Curry is the MVP probably, so far this year in the NBA. You’ve got Klay Thompson too.

[RELATED: Curry overtakes LeBron, receives most All-Star votes in NBA]

“Steph is the leading vote-getter, and he’s best the best PG in the NBA this year. Kobe’s there, and that’s going to be the big decision, but then you’ve got James Harden, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard…. It’s going to be very difficult for Chris to make the team this year.”

The 26-year-old All Star is averaging 23.2 points, 8.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 steals, 3.0 3-pointers and 33.0 minutes per game for the Warriors this season.