'He's Figured Out The League': Kevin Garnett Picks Mavs' Luka Doncic For MVP

NBA legend Kevin Garnett revealed Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic as his pick to win the 2022-23 MVP award.

There will be a lot of difficulty in deciding who the rightful MVP is in the 2022-23 NBA season. It became further complicated with Joel Embiid outplaying Nikola Jokic in a head-to-head matchup amid the Philadelphia 76ers' rise to second in the Eastern Conference standings.

Even though Luka Doncic is producing one of the best individual seasons in the modern NBA, he is not a consensus front-runner due to the Dallas Mavericks holding a lesser record than his peers.

Doncic is averaging historical results. He's producing 33.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game. If he sustains a 32-8-8 line for the season, he will join Michael Jordan as the only two NBA players in history to meet that mark. However, nobody has matched Doncic's current stat line for a whole season.

As far as Kevin Garnett is concerned, this 23-year-old should be the recipient of this year's MVP. In a recent episode of "KG Certified," the NBA legend spoke with his former teammate JR Rider to discuss who they'd take as the MVP this season — Garnett chose Doncic.

"I love Luka's pace. I love Luka's maturity," Garnett said. "You see how he's been playing with older men, or older people in his life. You see it. He's not afraid of anything in the league."

Garnett explained further: "He goes to some of the best defenders the same way and makes them look like they're not that great of defenders. He has a pace you can't speed him up and he's figured out the league."

After Monday's 111-105 win over the Detroit Pistons, the Mavs have been able to maintain a .500 or higher record this season. Doncic produced a masterful performance, scoring 53 points while shooting 17-24 from the floor and 5-11 from 3-point range. Perhaps most impressive of all, he finished 12-13 from inside the arc, fully showcasing the use of pace that Garnett praised. 

While Mavs did achieve a win after Doncic sustained a sprained ankle just three minutes into their recent matchup against the Phoenix Suns, they are 0-6 in games that he doesn't log a second of playing time. At 27-25 overall, they will need to rise significantly in the standings for him to have a better MVP outlook.

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