Luka Doncic’s Historic NBA Season for Dallas Mavs Deserves More MVP Attention
When you hear people talking around the league, there's no doubting that Luka Doncic is an MVP candidate this season, yet it still feels like he isn't being taken seriously enough for having a shot at the prestigious award due to the Dallas Mavericks' current standing in the Western Conference.
With 18 games remaining, the Mavs are currently eighth in the Western Conference with a 36-28 record, but they're within reach of the sixth-seed, being just a half-game back of the seventh-place Sacramento Kings and one game back of the sixth-place Phoenix Suns going into Monday night's slate of games.
The general consensus is that the Mavs need to reach 50 wins and avoid the Play-In Tournament in order for Doncic to really have a shot at winning his first MVP. That would mean the Mavs would have to go 14-4 down the final stretch of the season to reach that mark, which is doable, but probably not likely.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Even if Dallas can't reach 50 wins, it could still win enough games to end up with the sixth-seed, and Doncic is having such a historic season that his team's place in the standings probably shouldn't matter as much as it would in previous years, especially when considering how many injuries the Mavs dealt with in the first half of this season.
Doncic is averaging 34.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 49.7 percent overall, 38.0 percent from deep and 78.9 percent on free throws. He also has a 62.5 true-shooting percentage. Doncic put up a career-high 73 points earlier this season, and he's currently on an insane tear, stringing together an NBA-record six consecutive 30-point triple-doubles and counting.
"It's my best season for sure," Doncic said after his historic night in a blowout win over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. "But I've still got a lot to improve. ... [The triple-double streak is] good, as long as we get the win. We got two wins now in a row, so we've got to keep going like that."
No player in league history has ever averaged what Doncic is averaging this season. The closest is Russell Westbrook – the guy Doncic just passed for most consecutive 30-point triple-doubles – during the 2016-2017 season, and he won MVP that year while not being nearly as efficient as Doncic has been this year.
There are several worthy MVP candidates this season, including Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum ... but when comparing rosters across the board, Doncic truly is the most valuable player to his team, no matter where the Mavs end up in the West standings. If the Mavs can continue to win games, it will keep MVP voters from having to second-guess themselves at season's end.
