Luka Dončić has a problem. He told us about it.
But we didn’t listen.
Remember when he was in the midst of one of the most remarkable stretches we witnessed from any player last season? You know, when he averaged 37.5 points, eight rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.3 steals in March, leading the Lakers to a 15-2 record, yet he somehow fell in NBA.com’s MVP rankings at that time?
“The better I play, the more I go down in rankings,” Doncic said last March. “So, I don’t know what more I can do.”
Everyone turned their cheek. Why?
Maybe people are inured to his greatness. Maybe all of his complaining to officials reduced that comment to white noise, even though it was his first and only time opening up about feeling snubbed last season. Maybe he doesn’t advocate for himself enough.
Doncic’s point was stunningly driven home again.
Despite leading the league in scoring last season (33.5 points) and finishing third in assists (8.3), none of the NBA’s general managers believe Dončić will win MVP this season.
In their preseason poll released October 15, Victor Wembanyama received 77% of the vote for projected MVP, followed by Nikola Jokic (10%) and Anthony Edwards (7%). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum also received votes.
Doncic?
Zero. Nil. Nada.
What were the league’s general managers thinking? Why is he being overlooked? What’s going on here?
Those questions have been thrust to the forefront of our minds after Doncic finished with 52 points on 56.7% shooting, eight rebounds and 10 assists on Sunday, helping the Lakers storm back from an 18-point deficit to beat the Jazz, 132-123.
It was a masterpiece.
Since the Mavericks traded Doncic to the Lakers in February 2025, he has had more 40-point performances (19) than LeBron James (18), who spent eight seasons in Los Angeles.
It was Doncic’s 10th 50-point performance of his career. Since he was drafted by the Mavericks as the third overall pick in 2018, only James Harden (16) and Damian Lillard (11) have had more 50-point perforances than Doncic. It was the first time this season that anyone has scored 50 points.
Doncic is a once-in-a-generation player. Why isn’t he getting more consideration for the league’s most prestigious individual honor?
Doncic has never won MVP despite leading the league in scoring twice and carrying the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2024.
Warriors star Draymond Green has a theory.
“I still wholeheartedly believe he never wins an MVP because he’s in year nine and the people who vote, they’ve already moved on,” Green said on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show. “…Voters get fatigued with seeing you being great over and over again, and if you haven’t jumped that threshold of the MVP great, then they move on. And they’ve moved on.”
It’s a shame for Doncic.
The Lakers are now his team after LeBron James left in free agency for the 76ers in July. Doncic is taking that responsibility very seriously. He had a major say in the roster moves last offseason, including the Lakers acquiring Walker Kessler. And for the first time in his career, he hosted a mini camp in Slovenia in August so the team could build chemistry.
Doncic didn’t hold back in an exclusive interview with the California Post about what winning MVP would mean to him.
“It would definitely mean a lot,” Dončić told the newspaper. “Obviously a championship, that’s what you play for every game. That’s what you train for everyday. But obviously it would be nice to win the MVP also. Not everybody can say they have an MVP, so obviously that would be nice.
“But that comes with the team first. If you don’t play good, you’re never going to win championships or MVP. So, we’ve got to play good. I’m very excited to go to war with these people. I think we had a great training camp and we’re ready to go.”
For Doncic, who’s notably shy, that was him putting himself out there.
He badly wants this. He’s never going to advocate for himself the way Victor Wembanyama did last season. He’s the best offensive player in the NBA, but the team-first European isn’t going to toot his own horn.
But he shouldn’t have to. Voters shouldn’t need convincing. General managers are paid to know players’ games better than anyone.
So, what’s happening here for Doncic, who finished fourth in MVP voting last season despite earning the scoring title and carrying the Lakers to a fourth-place finish in the West before suffering a strained hamstring in April that sidelined him all postseason?
As Doncic asked last season: What more does he have to do?
Let’s go through the arguments against him.
He complains too much to the refs. Yeah, so? Since when is that a metric that counts? Or a metric at all?
He doesn’t play enough defense. That didn’t stop Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic or James Harden from winning MVPs.
He can’t win unless his team finishes No. 1 in the West. Russell Westbrook won MVP in 2017 even though the Thunder finished sixth in the West. Jokic won the award in 2021 even though the Nuggets finished third in the conference.
Let’s stop the excuses.
Doncic has a point. Green has a point.
The GMs? They missed the point.
Let’s not punish Doncic because we’re so used to his stunning box scores that we’re no longer impressed by them. Let’s not fall into the lazy trope of only celebrating greatness from players who have already won the award — or looking at up-and-comers.
Dončić has deserved to be at the top of the MVP conversation for a while now.
And considering the stakes he’s playing for now as the face of a 17-time championship franchise, this might be his best season yet.
Everyone needs to have their eyes wide open.
Greatness fatigue can’t be a euphemism for blindness.