Luka Doncic jumps up to 2 on Kia’s MVP ladder
link: https://www.nba.com/news/kia-mvp-ladder-march-20-2026
I will say this. If anyone except Shai, Wemby, Jokic or Luka receives a first place vote from a member of the media, that person should be barred from voting in the future and potentially put in jail. Those 4 have been so far and above the entire league this season it’s ridiculousz
I have a very very strong feeling Jaylen Brown will get one vote from a Boston media voter who has a vote
And we won’t be able to do anything about it
2 years ago some guy voted Bobby Portis for everything as his second pick.
If you’re not first, you’re last, Ricky Bobby Portis.
You should see the voting for soccer top individual award balon dor. Half the voters are just trolling and picking 5 ppl from their country and shit like that.
Don’t forget domantas sabonis getting an mvp AND DPOY vote a few years ago
It was some EuroLeague reporter that somehow had a vote, that was horrible lmao
Ignacio Garcia from MARCA (the same guy who gave Portis his 2nd Team All Defense vote) had Sabonis third for DPOY.
Never forget that Richard Jefferson also had Sabonis on his 2nd Team All Defense ballot that year. Shame.
Tbf he was probably scared that Bobby would stare at him with those crazy eyes if he didn’t
Just completely disrespectful towards Bobby Portis, he was just so dominant that year no one in their right minds would think he isn’t the best.
This didn’t happen at all.
One guy (Ignacio Garcia from MARCA) voted for Portis for 2nd Team All Defense. He didn’t vote for Portis for anything else, including 6MOY (Portis finished 3rd in voting).
Portis has never received an MVP or All NBA vote.
Nah the 1st place vote jaylen brown gets will 100% come from Kendrick Perkins. He’s already basically said he’s not even going to vote for Luka in his NBA 1st team lol he putting brown instead.
That guy is basically a moron
“Basically” is doing no lifting here.
You’re right. He is a moron.
Bill Simmons has been seeding the case for Jaylen
As he did for the Marcus Smart DPOY
Check out his latest tweets. He says he’s changing his mind!
One Jaylen Brown vote from a new voter suspiciously named Sill Bimmons
Not even Bill would vote for JB tbh
It’s crazy that the first place vote that lost bron the unanimous mvp went to carmelo Anthony for the exact same reason lol
We can place them under citizens arrest. Like I said jail
fine that’s understandable
Jaylen will be in front of one of those 4 in the MVP voting, can already see it happening
Voting Jokic this year is crazy too
Yeah how could anyone vote for someone averaging 28/12/10 lmfao
People were called stupid for thinking Russ had a case in 2018.
Tbf Jokic’s efficiency separates his case from Westbrook’s quite clearly.
They were right
He’s still second or first in most advanced/impact metrics.
I can see some of the analytics people still voting for him, probably a few Ringer people.
Huh? He’s averaging a triple double lmao literally a week ago people were putting him above Shai and now it’s crazy to vote for him?
You guys genuinely become incredibly stupid but it changes what you’re stupid about week to week
There’s usually one or two voters who always vote for whoever they think the best player in the league is
He is #1 in PER, #2 in WS and #1 in VORP. Saying he shouldn’t get votes is crazy.
I would put him 4th personally but I could see how someone could talk themselves into it. Jaylen Brown is another story though.
4th lmao. Delusional
And Shai 5th then?
Before his injury he was having one of the best seasons of the decade. Afterward he’s still having a top 3 mvp level season. Id say that averages out to an ok MVP case.
Dude Jokic’s play has slipped a lot since the injury. I think Luka looks like the clear best in the world right now, followed closely by Shai and Wemby
And he’s still averaging a 28 point triple double on 68% TS. It’s a season award not a January - April award
But Luka’s averaging 33.4⁄7.9⁄8.4 on 61% TS and his team’s the 3rd seed. It’s a narrative award and players lose MVP based on seeding and late season performance all the time, I don’t see why Jokic is just impervious to all of that when Wemby or Shai’s ranking would tank if OKC or the Spurs were as bad as the Nuggets
Luka has been heavily criticized for his defense and whining but suddenly Jokic has armor this year. Don’t hear a peep about it from the media.
He was averaging 30 on like 73% TS before the injury, so there was a massive drop off after the injury.
Exactly, Jokic was playing so good I was thinking, “This dude would have my MVP vote regardless of seeding if he keeps this up”
I have Shai #1 right now (if I had a vote), but I’m hoping Luka can keep putting up monster numbers and move up to #1 before the end of the season (obvious bias here)
Team position in the standing’s not helping his case, especially with SGA, Wemby, Luka all being in the same conference on teams with better records
Making voting public was a mistake the entire voting system in the NBA now is just groupthink
This is BBall Paul erasure. His name is LITERALLY BASKETBALL!!!
Every year there’s a few random bizarre picks. I think Kyle Lowry got a first place vote a few years back. You can love Kyle Lowry and the steadiness he brought to Toronto. But come on lol. Votes should be publicized and voters should be tarred and feathered if it’s bullshit.
Votes should be publicized
Well you’re in luck!
Changing the season on the link you can go back multiple years at least.
I wouldn’t begrudge someone giving Cade or Brown a first place vote
Cade wont qualify There is ZERO reason to put Brown in top 4 not to mention 1st
How could you not begrudge that? 2nd place would already be extremely suspicious. 1st would be ludicrous.
Fair. He’s been on a heater. Might need some help to pass Shai though
i don’t see him or Wemby passing Shai so long as OKC have the 1 seed tbh. But they’ll definitely snag some votes.
There’s crazy recency bias in award votes. If the Lakers finish super hot and beat OKC in the last two meetings, they might actually give it to Luka.
But Wemby’s Spurs beating OKC three times in December will be completely forgotten.
If he just keeps putting up 40+ point games, until the end of the season, the noise will get loud enough that he could have a chance. He did have the narrative advantage coming into the season, the media just flipped on him immediately. Maybe he can gain it back though with the post child custody hoops. The Lakers FO should seriously just pay someone in the front row at every location they go to and have them talk shit to Luka
Winning fixes everything. If he keeps this up and they keep winning and they beat OKC in their matchups I think it’ll be Luka for MVP.
Yeah, I think the OKC games could make or break his case
In that case, I hope both teams play their best defense ever and neither team cracks 80pts, ending in a tie haha
I just hope we’re at full strength. Or at least close to it. this team has been damaged all season.
You’re right, but I think Shai would also have to throw in a couple stinkers - and probably in those Lakers matchups
Yeah, but if you remember that wild Shai vs Jokic back to back game winner matchup, Jokic had a crazy good statistical game. It was Shai winning the way he did that pretty much wrapped that MVP conversation. Like I said, winning fixes everything. If the Thunder win both those matchups I think there’s no doubt. I would even say if we split the games Shai has got it. If the Lakers win both with Luka doing crazy Luka things, then yeah, I could totally see voters leaning his way
It’s wild to even be having this conversation cause it felt like after the game where Shai hit the game winner against the Nuggets that was wraps on the MVP race. That Luka might (and might is doing a bit lifting) have a shot shows how crazy this year has been
It’s just the way NBA media works. I’m not sure if he’ll ACTUALLY have a shot at MVP, but he’ll definitely be discussed as a deserving candidate, and more likely be discussed as a serious snub once again if he doesn’t bring home the trophy (not looking forward to this discourse).
But if you remember back in 2017 when Russ won, the discussion didn’t really shift his way until the last like 2 weeks of the season when he was getting closer and closer to the triple double record and kept winning games in fantastic fashion. So it’s definitely not out of reach for Luka. He’s just got to keep it up.
I don’t know about that. The guy has the strongest media hate campaign I’ve ever seen against a superstar.
He made it to the finals and the media basically made up a new stat for the sole reason of discrediting him despite him clearly being the best player in the series by a decent margin.
In order for luka to have a chance, i think the lakers need to go atleast 10-2 in their remaining games AND beat the Thunder both games, with Shai not having a great game in either. And even then I think Shai would probably still win it.
I agree with your assessment but not with the conclusion. If we somehow go 10-2 with 2 wins against OKC and Luka keeps putting up something like 38-9-9 then he probably wins it
Truth is the records would still heavility favor Shai, in that scenario the lakers would have 55 wins, while OKC probably ends up with like 65 wins anyway.
I think any fan in the world would accept free front court tickets if the only stipulation was to chat shit. Gimme too many beers and I’d be shit talking my own players while wearing their jersey.
This was Embiid’s route against Jokic lol
That would be a weirdly difficult job. Like you constantly need new taunts so it doesn’t get stale. To be most effective you have to walk right up to the line with going past it. Do you wear disguises, or shirts taunting Luka?
Let’s not forget Luka threw up a stinker against OKc and got benched the entire 4th quarter in a blowout.
They will absolutely forget about that because it happened too long ago.
Jokic lost the ‘23 MVP to Embiid simply because Embiid was better for the last 20 games, even though Jokic had been better the first 60.
I distinctly remember the MVP shifting towards Embiid after he dominated Jokic in their head to head match during the middle of the season. And then Joel got heavily criticized for ducking their rematch, which happened at the end of the season.
I remember a bunch of clips of Jokic sucking on defense went viral too like the last month of the season lol it was the perfect storm
No. In the 2020s, every single player who lead the league in Actual EPM that season went on to win MVP (That includes Embiid in 23). The majority of voters love advanced stats so they are likely giving it to Shai.
majority of voters love advanced stats
Hwat? have you heard the dumb shit some of them have said
I have that user tagged as someone who abhors advanced stats, so it’s hilarious that the only time I see them comment involves them bitching about said stats. xD
Embiid played better and more impactful defense than Jokic come on now. We don’t have to pretend Embiid had zero claim to that MVP
Embiid played better and more impactful defense than Jokic come on now.
It’s hard not to. Jokic is complete ass on that end of the floor.
Lakers fans keep spamming this hopium but SGA is -2000 to win MVP. The race is over.
This.
Anyone who thinks Luka has a shot at MVP should bet $1,000 on it.
With the current odds, they’d make a massive profit.
I can think of he keeps putting up 40 he has a chance but not want to bet a 1k on it lol. What a dumb take.
A stinker is an understatement.
Took 20 FGA and 7 FTA for 19 points. 35/14/57 splits on 41%TS.
also people say Luka was robbed of MVP in 2024. Regardless of if you believe that, or if you think that should matter, it is a bias that exists already
It’s always come down to who played the best in the last 10-15 games. Discussing MVP before the all-star break is pointless.
People discuss mvp and rankings a week into the season. This sub is insufferable and suckers for small sample sizes for karma
…that’s simply not true
Yup. You can lose the MVP in the first 40 games of the season, but you can only win it in the last 20.
This kind of stuff has always been recency, biased and narrative driven
In the 2023 NFL season Brock Purdy and the Niners demolished Dak Prescott and the cowboys in week 5. But then on Christmas day Lamar Jackson and the Ravens demolished Brock Purdy and the 49ers. Then Lamar Jackson won MVP and Dak Prescott was second team All pro
If those games had happened the exact same way. But on the opposite dates, Brock Purdy probably gets at least all pro. But since he had a bad game close to voting time they gave it to the guy that was putting up huge stats in garbage time (Dak)
If Luka somehow wins MVP this year that would actually be insane. Sure, everyone saw him as a top 3 finish possiblity through the first half of the year and expected that. But actually winning it? Would be huge, considering the talk he hasn’t been able to break through and get that, even in 2024 he didn’t finish top 2…
31/4/6 vs 33/8/8
Not as far as you think. Team record favors Shai but Luka is on one right now
Even more than seeding, Shai is too consistent.
33/8/8 isn’t consistent?
Luka almost avging a 30 pt triple double. Thunder are good without Shai. Without Luka Lakers sink.
It’s so dumb how much weight the team’s success holds. It goes against what the award should be about
Never made sense to me. Having the best supporting cast in the league should actually hinder your case, not help it.
Exactly. Lakers without Luka are lucky to be a play in team. Thunder with SGA are still a solid playoff team. That alone shows which one brings more value
As long as he plays 65 games he’s got it. That moment in Denver is too much to overcome
“These last two scorching weeks by Dončić can compare with the best two weeks this season of anyone on the list.”
It really can’t. This is the hottest stretch by a player so far this season
Luka season average game would be considered a monster game for all but like 5 players in the association
Splitting hairs. Wemby, Joker and SGA have all had great streaks too. All four have great individual stats. It comes down to win totals and head2head wins. The Lakers have 2x more games against the Thunder right as ballots drop. Those games might determine who wins MVP. Not this weekly listicle or whether Luka’s hot streak was hotter than SGA’s hot streak.
Can you give us stats for any of the great two week streaks from any of them and compare the numbers?
And for everyone else let’s keep in mind that Luka has been doing this against top teams in his conference and where wins absolutely matter.
Not trying to call you out, just think it’s really easy now days to speak bullshit and to not actually have grounds for it.
Jokic averaged 32/12/11 on 65/52/85 splits (76% TS) and 4 TOs in November (14 GP) Denver was 11-3 in that stretch.
Shai is averaging 30/5/8 on 56/37/90 splits (66% TS) and 2 TOs in his last 20 games played. OKC is 16-4 in that stretch.
Wemby is averaging 24/11/3 on 50/36/80 splits (63% TS) and 2 TOs in his last 20 games played. Spurs are 18-2 in that stretch.
Luka is averaging 33/8/8 on 49/41/75 splits (63% TS) and 4 TOs in his last 20 games played. Lakers are 14-6 in that stretch.
IMO, the samples i chose are each of these players best stretches so far. all of these games for these players include comp vs top seeds (DEN, BOS, SAS, HOU, DET, OKC) and are almost all (except Jokic) post injury return stretches. i think if anything this just shows the top talent in the NBA is just really good, rather than that someone is more deserving of/has better case for MVP right now. they’re all really great and thats why these convos are so difficult.
That Jokic stretch is just nutty
He’s been legitimately meh since coming back from injury but is still having likely his best season so far because he had an inhuman start to the season. 30/12/11 on 60/44/85 shooting prior to the injury :(
Luka will never win an MVP. Thought that was clear ever since they robbed him in the 23⁄24 season.
Honestly might be true. No evidence to back it up obviously but he feels like he’s gonna be one of those guys who always gets close to it but only ends his career with one or maybe none at all. Kind of like how Kobe has built such a legend behind him, but only has one MVP, or like Jose Ramirez in baseball who’s finished top 5 in MVP several times, but for every MVP caliber season he has, someone else happens to have a HISTORICAL season
Drew Brees is probably the best comparison. Ridiculous numbers but always gets the short end of the stick during his peak seasons. Brees has 3 seasons in particular (2009, 2011, 2018) which would’ve won him MVP in 90% of NFL seasons. In 2009 he got legitimately screwed and should’ve won MVP over Manning. In 2011 Rodgers posts 45 TDs and the highest passer rating of all time. In 2018 Mahomes gets 50 TDs and 5100 yards…that’s just bad luck.
I guess that’s assuming he’s already peaked though right? He turned 27 a month ago and is playing probably the best ball of his life, I think that Rockets game on Wednesday night was the beginning of him peaking lol
His style of play will never go well with the voters. It’s very similar to Harden’s case, who has only one and his offensive seasons were even better than Luka’s.
He’s never led a team to a top 2 seed. It’s that simple if he wins 60 games he’ll easily win mvp. It’s not a conspiracy.
As he should be. Lakers likely lock up the 3. If he keeps this pace he’ll steal some votes from SGA. I don’t think there is enough time for him to overtake unless he averages 40 for the last stretch and they beat OKC twice with Luka outplaying SGA both games.
The key to winning MVP is to be in the conversation for awhile and then heat up towards the end, especially if you haven’t won before. Media members are board talking about SGA or Jokic winning it, don’t want to give it to Jaylen Brown or Cade, and now Lakers have won 8 in a row with Luka averaging 40+ and a recent 60 point game.
They may still give it to SGA because he’s only won once, but I guarantee if SGA had 2 MVPs and put up this exact season, media members would just be debating Luka or Wemby
Bored*
Thank you so much
This is exactly why MVP award has always been a joke should never be taken seriously
lol no it’s not. The discourse is silly but at the end of the day, there’s nothing that can make it considered “a joke”.
People just misunderstand what’s really happening with multiple MVP’s. Jokic last year wasn’t competing for an MVP, he was competing for his 4th MVP. Winning that means the voters are saying he’s the same caliber player as Lebron & Wilt.
You never know where narrative and voter fatigue are taken into account. Best player on best team? Hottest player on the top 3 seed? Best 2-way player? One thing that never happens is most indispensable player since that would actually be logical for what an MVP is….
This 100%. SGA is a 2-MVP caliber of player, everyone is comfortable with that. He’ll get the Jokic treatment next year 100% regardless of whether he deserves it or not. Depending on LAL’s moves in the offseason, I’d bet a stack on Luka to win next year.
Really weird because Wemby definitely hasn’t performed different since reaching #2 he’s been amazing every games.
Just because Wemby hasn’t performed worse doesn’t mean Luka hasn’t been better.
Very simply put but this dude probably still doesn’t get it lol
The ol’ “You said your guy is good, you must mean that my guy sucks” logic
People here seem to have very binary opinions lol I think Wemby is amazing and his defense should contribute a lot more to the race, but Luka really has been on a different level offensively lately. I get that Shai has been great too but honestly I think his team being much better should weaken his argument instead of strengthening it. The whole decision process is flawed
On Lakers 8 game winstreak Luka is averaging 41ppg+2 steals and shooting 42% from 3 on 13 attempts per game despite countless end of shot clock or 2for1 chucks bringing percent down. As amazing as Wemby has been Luka is in another world right now.
Wemby has lived in another world defensively since entering the league
Spurs fans are going to have to learn to live with the fact that nobody cares about defense when it comes to MVPs.
Wemby is at the point now where the team isn’t even shooting around him which is an amazing impact but it doesn’t look like 40 points in a game. I even think the Spurs will end up with the best record in the West.
But if Wemby wants to win MVP he’s gotta get to around 28 points and 6 or 7 assists. That won’t happen this year.
I agree, but it’s also insane how much of a discount his defensive impact gets in these discussions because it’s “just” defense–per Nate Duncan’s pod, the Suns shot 5⁄11 at the rim during Wemby’s 34 min on the floor last night (as in not even when challenging Wemby, they only attempted 11 shots at the rim during 34 minutes of an NBA game). Wemby himself had 6 makes at the rim, and the Spurs more than doubled the Suns’ paint production during his 34 min of PT.
Like, Wemby completely and utterly warps the court in a way stats can’t fully capture and you can’t really understand unless you watch the games. I don’t even blame people for seeing the comparative stats and just thinking “Well he’s better at defense but these stats look way better”; we simply don’t have a way of expressing how good he is in shorthand numbers the way you can express how good Luka is with pts/reb/ast. It’ll always make his MVP candidacies a more difficult discussion than primarily-offensive players
The NFL equivalent is like Aaron Donald. Of course at his peak he was NFL defensive player of the year but people can’t conceptualize the reality wrarping ability he had because there are no numbers attached to it.
Which is why he’ll win DPOY lol I agree that should hold more weight than even the seeding does though
How is it weird? Luka has gotten better while Wemby has stayed the same, makes a lot of sense actually.
Maybe we can just shift the joke to whoever it currently applies to:
“Wemby hits the game winner to send his team to the playoffs and drops down in the mvp ladder as a result.”
Damn this sub can’t joke about him dropping down anymore lol
Him moving up to #2 means he drops to #3 now.
Would be neck and neck with Shai if the media didn’t completely undervalue him the first half of the season. He wasn’t on Shai’s level the first half but he shouldn’t have been 8th on the MVP ladder ever lmao
Never worse than top 5 in MVP talks. Same stuff happened in 2024. Media narrative somehow always hurts him and helps Jokic
Luka has been on a heater, but Shai has had a much better and consistent season overall. He shouldn’t be neck and neck with Shai at all
I agree he’s been more consistent but he’s also consistently doing less than other stars at their peaks while having the best supporting cast in the league by a wide margin.
If you value consistency over everything else he’s the clear-cut #1 Every other case you could make for him is much MUCH weaker IMO.
SGA is having one of the best guard seasons ever. He’s not doing less.
The exact same person that wrote this article when Luka was 8th is the one writing it now lmao. there isn’t a conspiracy from “the media” to oppress Luka Doncic
Seriously. Because people legit think he’s just starting to cook now or something, but he came into the season dropping 40 every other night, it was literally just the one month in December when he had a slump relative to Luka standards (still 31/7/8, albeit his defense was not good in that stretch, and he was shooting 29% from 3). He’s been balling like crazy since January (33/8/8 with better defense, 40% from 3), but the media just kept slandering him for no reason even after his defensive effort picked up and he was shooting better again. And mind you, this was right around when his 2nd child was born, and knowing what we know now, the whole custody situation is probably why he was in that slump.
It literally took him this 8 game win streak where he is averaging 41/9/7, 2 STLs & 1 BLK, on 50% from the field and 42% from 3 for the media to stop gaslighting everyone and actually acknowledge that maybe he shouldn’t be in fucking Jaylen Brown discussions. He had to ball so hard they couldn’t deny it anymore. Yet Jokic came into the season kind of out of shape, was injured for a stretch and has been playing like shit since he came back (and I get he seems to have a nagging injury, not saying he’s regressed skill wise), his team has a worse defensive rating than the Lakers, and he has been around the same seed as the Lakers until recently, and he was still just defaulted to 2nd in MVP rankings until like a week ago. The difference in how these two players are treated by the media is stark.
SGA led a team with decent injury issues to 24-1 and Jokic was putting up historic stats and playing at an even higher level than he had been the years before.
Against that just good scoring isn’t really enough. First of all he was in and out with injury which really sets him well back, but then there were too many just ok or poor games mixed in there too.
E.g coming up against OKC and putting up 19 points on 41%TS finishing with -31 and sitting the 4th. Just looking at the gamelog I can see really poor turnover numbers early. Like greta he had 38 against the Suns but he also had 9 turnovers and 5 assists. Or early against the Heat he had 29 points but he’s shooting 1⁄11 from 3.
Not like he was playing bad, but he’s not at a historical level of the other guys.
Also such a bizarre mindset you have there. You think peoples opinion changing based on him player better is them “stopping gaslighting everyone” and not just….people’s opinions changing based on him playing better and Lakers winning more? You know people SHOULD change throughout the year, right? Why do you think it should be the same.
Fuck out of here “just good scoring” “not a historical player”. He’s the goddamn ppg leader, 3rd in assists, and the top rebounder at his position. He just put up 40 and 60 on a tough back to back on the road. He is scoring better than SGA is this season. The turnovers were not good, but that’s because he was working with scraps while Austin was out and LeBron was ramping up. The Lakers have one of the worst benches in the league. And his playmaking and rebounds make up for the higher turnovers compared to SGA. He averages more points, rebounds, assists, steals, triple doubles, and 40+ point games than SGA, and they’ve missed about the same number of games. Don’t try to make it seem like they’re not on the same level player to player, your guy is lucky he’s on the best team in the league.
SGA has got efficiency, better defense, and the higher seed, I’ll give him that. And he has a strong argument to be MVP, I’m not disputing that. What I’m disputing is the inconsistency in the discussion. Jokic for sure had a case in the first half of the season, but it’s been quite evident that the Nuggets have been on a backslide and Jokic has not been on that same historic level since he came back.
And the arguments they used against Luka, ie poor defense, out of shape, lower seeding all apply to Jokic this season to, but people don’t weigh them the same when it comes to him. That’s the bullshit part. Not a soul would dare say that Cade or JB should be over him because of seeding, but the Lakers have been a higher seed than the Nuggets multiple times this season with a roster everyone thought was trash and didn’t work together. But he doesn’t get shot the same bail because Jokic has had the best player in the world title for the last several years, so people just automatically put him at the top.
Jokic was averaging a 30 point triple double with the highest TS% in the league before he got injured and people were still arguing that he was behind SGA for MVP. PRA slop isn’t enough to win MVP when your team record is so far behind the top contenders for MVP.
That’s cool, I don’t mind if SGA ultimately gets the MVP. My whole point is, the coverage in the media for Luka has not been the same as the coverage for other MVP candidates. Luka was getting shit on constantly and nitpicked to death since December for many of the same flaws that Jokic has had this season. They had him below Cade and JB like 2 weeks ago. They were calling him not a winning player, one of the worst defenders in the league, and were saying Nico was right. That’s not fair criticism, that’s called peddling bullshit.
And the media was doing this until a couple of weeks ago despite the fact that, like I said, he’s been balling and putting more defensive effort in since January. I’ve watched nearly every Laker game, he’s been playing great for much longer than people think because the media hates him for some reason. My point is, why don’t we keep that same energy when Jokic is turning the fucking ball over 10 times and was jumping on peoples backs to grift out a win against a tanking Jazz team. Luka would be crucified for doing that, as would SGA amongst fans. But the goalposts always seem to shift when it comes to the media’s favorite guy Jokic.
Maybe stop watching too much ESPN.
We were almost never healthy on the first half. Sure okc has had their injuries too but they have a vastly superior team and Reaves and LeBron were both injured for a long period of time.
SGA (and Jokic and Wemby) have better advanced stats than Luka in basically every measurable category.
Luka has been on an awesome heater and deserves first team all nba, but it’s not undervaluing him to suggest other players have had better seasons (also spurs and OKC are like 10 games ahead of lakers lol)
Going to be a short post from u/aingenevalostatrade
Why does that guy get to post this stuff
Honetly, he should do it iust for the bit.
The “ladder” is basically a single voter publishing his weekly opinion for content, right?
Unfortunately, this Luka’s last chance to win MVP coz Wemby winning it starting next season..
Luka can become better as well.
Lakers are 10 games behind OKC, it’s not happening. He’s not doing enough to offset that amount of games, for that to happen the #1 seed needs to lack an MVP candidate of their own, and SGA isn’t that. The only challenger is Wemby, if he manages to get to 65 games, them being 3 games behind OKC.
if we win those 2 games against okc in april with both teams healthy, it might be enough to push the narrative for him to be the mvp
Finally lol
I don’t see how he passes up Wemby. He hasn’t slowed down at all
Just because he hasn’t slowed down doesn’t mean that Luka hasn’t been sprinting faster lol
He definitely deserves climbing up to second, but I don’t think people realise how unprecedented it would be if Luka won MVP if the standings stay roughly where they are for the remainder of the season.
Usually when the MVP goes to lower seeded team, it’s because the higher seeded teams are more of a “committee” type of team where they don’t have a clear MVP candidate like the Suns or Jazz when Jokic was winning.
NBA history suggests to overcome a 10 win gap like OKC and LA have now, you have to outplay the other teams best player by so much it’s irrefutable.
You can definitely argue that’s not what the award should represent, or that Luka is currently playing like the best player in the world, but for the MVP, history is not on his side this year.
But if he theoretically continues to average 40 like he has last 8 games and beats OKC in both matchup, he has a small chance no matter how small right?
Yeah for sure, I’m just saying it’s a steeper climb than some people are suggesting
Oh yeah definitely. I doubt it happens but if it’s did, it would be one of the better NBA feats.
The two Thunder v Lakers games in April should be pretty spicy 🔥
Luka’s been absolutely cooking this season. The way he’s controlling games and putting up those triple doubles while actually playing defense this year is wild. I remember watching him his rookie season thinking he had potential but man, the growth has been insane. His clutch performances lately especially against playoff teams show he’s really matured as a player. If he keeps this pace up and the Mavs grab that 2 seed he’s gonna be right there with whoever’s at number 1
Mavs
I hate to tell you this buddy but
Bro is living in the main timeline
It’s like that sad moment when someone absentmindedly calls you by the name of a person close to them that died
Ask Claude or any LLM and their knowledge cutoff is before the Luka trade so if they don’t use web search, they say shit like this. Lame bot
Bots really out here running rampant huh.. i probably be arguing with them mfs daily
Bot script is out of date.
The “playing defense” bit didn’t give that away? /s
I LOVE AI SO MUCH HOLY SHIT
mr claude it’s 2026
Mavs?
Defense?! Artificial Imbeciles brain broke
Luka has been awesome, so if this poll is meant to reflect recent play he deserve this. But across the whole season, what is the argument for Luka over Wemby or Jokic? (Not including SGA, since the poll has him at 1 and no one has chance or case against him)
The argument would be that on the season hes the NBA scoring leader and top 3 assist leader as well. Hes been great all year, hes just gone nuclear during this stretch is all.
he’s been awesome! but his advanced stats are worse than all three of SGA, Jokic, and Wemby and the lakers record is way worse than OKC and spurs. his season has been awesome, but when you’re comparing against the other candidates these sorts of things matter which is why I get his case for first team all-nba, but don’t see the mvp case
Haha you guys keep mentioning Jokic like he is not the 6th seed, same argument people use to have Wemby in the conversation, they forget about it when it comes to Jokic.
#1? Nico Harrison
All it took was dropping 40 on average in the last 8 games to be considered not first place
As he should he’s been on a tear this month.
Remember Lakers are closer to the 8th seed than they are to the spurs. MVP is more than a heater in march
Closer to 7th seed*
7 games behind Spurs, 11 games in front of 8th seed. 6 games in front of 7th seed.
Why do people always have to put the sponsor in the Title? Just say “Luke Doncic jumps up to 2nd on the MVP ladder”
We’d have to beat OKC in that final stretch to really give him a shot
Crazy that the media who most don’t even watch the game are voting for something so important. It shouldn’t be the fans either. I don’t have an answer but I know that the system we have now is messed up.
As he should he’s been on an absolute heater
Unfortunately this will make Luka fans think their whining worked. Luka has been unbelievable since ASB. Too late to rlly challenge Shai for mvp according to the betting markets, but itll be good for their playoff run.
kias mvp. jfc man everything pimped out to ads what an existence.
Mavs fans championship is Luka coming up 2nd in MVP voting congrats PRAVI
Now we can retire that dumb joke that was every other comment on Luka posts.
Wemby, Luka, or Jokic all deserve it
As a Telluride owner, I read that as Luka jumped up onto two Kias 😂
Dunno why people get heated on who’s number 2. Number 2,3,4 on the MVP ladder gets you literally nothing. There’s no silver medal, or 2nd-team all-nba. If you ain’t first, you’re last.
Remember in the finals when Jaylen Brown totally shut him down with great defense?
Luka is the MVP. SGA is on a loaded team and is a free throw merchant. Without Luka, Lakers have 20 wins.