Luka Doncic Stays Put on NBA MVP Ladder After Mavs Skid

Despite Luka Doncic's dominant play over the last three weeks, NBA.com has the Mavs superstar in the same spot in this week's MVP Ladder rankings.

Michael Mulford | Dec 22, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

Through under six years in the NBA, Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has achieved just about anything a aspiring basketball player could dream of outside of a few things: an NBA championship and winning the NBA MVP.

For Doncic, he's played at an MVP level for years, but both the lack of success for the Mavs or outstanding play of other candidates, like Denver's Nikola Jokic or Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo have overshadowed Doncic's case for the crown.

As for this season, Doncic is yet again playing like an MVP, averaging a career-high 32.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and a career-high 9.1 assists while shooting another career-high 37.6 percent from 3-point range. And yet, the Mavs currently sit as the No. 6 seed in the West, which brings his case for the MVP down a couple notches.

USATSI_22149351 — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

In Friday's version of NBA.com's KIA MVP Ladder, Doncic remained ranked at No. 5, behind Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the reigning MVP, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid.

Michael C. Wright's analysis: “Doncic was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the first time this season on Monday, but the Mavericks have lost three of their last four. Virtually unstoppable, Doncic is averaging 36.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 11.2 assists over his last 10 games.”

Mavs' Luka Doncic on Pace for Historic NBA Season, But at What Cost?

And that's the battle for Doncic -- though he's arguably been playing the best basketball across the entire league over the last 10 games, the Mavericks have lost three of their last four games while Dallas has suffered from the injury bug, as Wright noted.

The MVP race is always about what have you done for me lately and though Doncic has done everything in his power to be seen as the favorite, the team around him must match his production with more W's.

Published Dec 22, 2023

MICHAEL MULFORD

Michael Mulford is a writer/editor for Dallas Basketball, where he extensively covers the Dallas Mavericks. He also covers the Chicago Bulls as the Managing Editor for Bulls Wire of USA Today Sports Media Group. Mulford grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Event, and Sports Management. He began his pursuit of sports writing in 2017 with Dallas Sports Fanatic, where he covered the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, Texas Legends. He then became the Managing Editor of Dallas Sports Fanatic just one year later and has covered the Mavericks as a credentialed media member since 2018, including covering numerous playoff games between 2021-22 and covering the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in 2019. In his time covering the Mavericks, Mulford has conducted numerous interviews for exclusive stories including with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick and current VP of Basketball Ops Michael Finley, former Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, and more. You can follow and interact with Mulford on Twitter at @TheMulf.