NBA MVP Ladder: Mavs' Mediocre Record Holding Luka Doncic Back?

Luka Doncic is putting up historic numbers for the Dallas Mavericks, but his team's mediocre record will likely keep him from being a legitimate threat to win the NBA's MVP award.

Dalton Trigg | Mar 11, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

Heading into Saturday's matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, the Dallas Mavericks are just one game above .500 with a 34-33 record. As disappointing as this regular season has been after the Mavs won 52 games last year and secured home-court advantage, a barely-above-.500 record is enough to keep them out of play-in tournament range ... for now.

With 15 games remaining, Luka Doncic is set to become the first player in NBA history to average at least 33 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game for an entire season. Even if you lower the scoring criteria down to an even 30 points per game, the only players to ever average that along with eight rebounds and eight assists are Oscar Robertson (1960-62, 1963-65), Russell Westbrook (2016-17) and Michael Jordan (1988-89).

Robertson and Westbrook won the NBA's MVP award with those numbers, and Jordan came in second to Magic Johnson in that 1988-89 season. So with Doncic doing something so rare, why is he not even projected as being finalist this season?

The answer to that question is simple, and it's what was referenced in the opening statement: the Mavs' mediocre record is holding Doncic back.

According to NBA.com's MVP Ladder, Doncic ranks fifth behind Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.

Even before the trade for Kyrie Irving, nobody expected a Doncic-led Mavericks team coming off a Western Conference finals appearance in 2022 to be currently sitting in Play-In Tournament territory. But that’s where we are Dallas continues to struggle at finding a level of consistency with its superstar backcourt. Doncic left the third quarter of Wednesday’s loss at New Orleans due to a nagging sore left thigh that has been bothering him for quite a while. The good news is an MRI revealed no significant damage. But it’s unknown how the injury might affect the 24-year-old down the stretch.

Doncic's numbers are at the same level or even better than all of the players ahead of him, but the biggest difference is in the standings. Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks are No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. Tatum's Boston Celtics are No. 2, and Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers are No. 3 in the East. Jokic's Denver Nuggets are all alone with the No. 1 spot in the West with a six-game cushion.

Although Doncic is putting up MVP numbers, his team is going to have to sport a better record going forward if he wants legitimate consideration for the award. It's what kept Jordan from winning MVP over Johnson in 1988-89, given that the Los Angeles Lakers had 10 more wins than the Chicago Bulls that season.

Doncic has stated on many occasions how it would be an honor to win MVP, but he has also made it clear that winning an NBA championship is the real prize he covets. If the Mavs can get things rolling with Doncic and Kyrie Irving in the final 15 games of the season leading to a long playoff run, that will make up for him missing out on regular-season MVP honors.

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Published Mar 11, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.