Dallas Mavs' Luka Doncic Becomes Youngest NBA Scoring Champion Since Kevin Durant
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In a year where Luka Doncic broke the Dallas Mavericks' franchise record for most points scored in a single season, he also led the NBA with an average of 33.9 points per game. Pair that 33.9 points with his 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game, and Doncic became the first player in league history to average that stat line.
Doncic, who turned 25 years old in February, became the youngest scoring champion since Kevin Durant did it during the 2011-12 season at 23 years old. During that season, Durant averaged 28.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists while finishing second to LeBron James in MVP voting.
That could be another parallel between Doncic and Durant, as No. 77 is widely expected to come up short in this season's MVP race to Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic. Despite Jokic himself saying that Doncic should be the MVP this year after putting up historic numbers and leading the Mavs to a 50-win season amid several key roster injuries and shakeups, many voters seem to disagree.
"I think he deserves the MVP, 100 percent," Jokic said of Doncic. "But it's not my decision, to be honest."
Kyrie Irving, who has meshed well alongside Doncic as his co-star, gave his pitch for why his teammate should win the MVP this season.
“His stats speak for themselves. He’s first in a lot of different categories," Irving said. "He’s held this team up when I wasn’t able to be in the lineup and I was injured. There are a lot of factors that I factor to his MVP case, and me as a brother of his, I have the utmost love and support to give him. I want to see him win MVP.
"If it’s not going to be this year, it’s going to be in the eventual future, or the near future."