Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic Joins Lakers' LeBron James On List Of MVP Snubs

Luka Doncic checked all the boxes before being snubbed for the Most Valuable Player award.

Dec 12, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) talks with Dallas / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Dallas Mavericks are in the middle of a playoff run which has them down 1-0 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. This is no shock, though, as the team has yet to win a Game 1 in the playoffs under Jason Kidd's head coaching tenure.

While the Mavericks are navigating the postseason, the NBA has been handing out awards for the regular season. On Wednesday, the results of the NBA Most Valuable Player were released. With Luka Doncic as a finalist, it was worth paying attention to for Mavericks fans.

Nikola Jokic won his third MVP victory while Doncic finished in third place. This surprised some Mavericks fans but they finished 5th in the Western Conference, and the award typically goes to players on the top teams in their respective conferences.

READ MORE: Lakers Eyeing Assistant Coach From Dallas Mavericks

Still, that doesn't take away from Doncic's incredible season. The 25-year-old averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game en route to the Mavericks winning 50 games on the season.

StatMamba also brought an interesting statistic to light. Doncic joins Los Angeles Lakers star and NBA great LeBron James as players to average at least 30 points, seven rebounds, and six assists per game, winning 50 games and still not winning Most Valuable Player. They're the only two in NBA history to check those boxes and fall short of the highly-touted award.

Luka Doncic this season:

33.9 PPG
9.2 RPG
9.8 APG

Joins LeBron James (2006) as the only players in NBA history to average at least 30/7/6 on a 50-win team and not win MVP. pic.twitter.com/AIbXtAFVhE

— StatMamba (@StatMamba) May 9, 2024

Again, it's not a shock Doncic fell short this season. Jokic had another statistically incredible season. He led his team to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led his team to the No. 1 seed in the conference, also having great averages statistically.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the only player in history to average 30 or more points per game, lead his team to the top of the Western Conference, and still fall short of winning the award. No matter how it's spun, someone would be snubbed of the MVP. That doesn't take away from the losers, but goes to speak about how much talent the NBA currently has.

This also adds to the matchup between Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander in the second round. The two both lost out on the MVP award. Both have something to prove and they're always drawing comparisons to each other. The pursuit of a championship is more important than some hardware.

Doncic has been putting up video game numbers throughout his career and it's only a matter of time before those crossover into an MVP award.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks Have Yet To Win a Game 1 Under Jason Kidd, Is It A Concern?

Stick with MavericksGameday for more coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the NBA Playoffs. 

Follow Kade Kimble on Twitter.