Luka Doncic hasn’t always received this much respect as he deserves throughout his NBA career. However, that is starting to change. Doncic has led the The Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals despite injury issues last season. Now, Doncic is getting love from ESPN’s MVP, as he is the favorite to win the prize according to ESPN experts.
ESPN held a vote among its NBA experts for several award predictions, including MVP. Doncic received 48% of all votes for first place. Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards and Giannis Antetokounmpo rounded out the top five in that order.
In reality, any of the players mentioned above could win the NBA MVP award in the 2024-25 season. Even other stars like Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, and Kevin Durant could very well be contenders for the MVP award this upcoming season. But at 25 years old and already a superstar, Doncic seems ready to take the plunge.
Decomposition Luka Doncic2024-25 MVP potential
Doncic had serious MVP credentials last season. He led the league in scoring with 33.9 points per game, shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three-point range. Doncic’s improvement from three-point range helped him develop his versatile offensive attack.
Of course, Luka also found ways to contribute to the win beyond scoring. He averaged 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. The Mavs dealt with a lot of injury issues, but still finished fifth in the Western Conference. Yet Doncic ultimately finished third in MVP voting.
That’s how things have played out for Doncic at certain points in his career. He’s sometimes overlooked, which has led some to think Luka is underrated, which is truly incredible since he has a good case for being the best player in the entire league.
Sure, Doncic’s defense is sometimes questionable. But the reality is that Luka has improved defensively.
Doncic’s Defense
Luka was criticized for his defensive efforts by many players during the NBA Finals. However, many critics clearly did not follow the Mavs throughout the regular season. When they saw Doncic on defense in June, he was at the end of a long season and battling various injuries. That being said, he still led the offense.
“I think when you look at today’s athlete, the goal of the sport is not to be perfect,” the Mavericks head coach said. Jason Kidd said in June “It’s just, you know, winning. And when you look at what’s happened here the last couple of days, if you’ve watched the Mavs, Luka has improved his defense. But we ask him, or some people ask him, to be a defensive defender. Well, he’s never been an All-Defensive team, but he’s been a five-time All-Pro, first-team player. So that means he’s one of the five best players in the world, and he plays the game the right way to be able to find open players.”
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“But when you’re on the biggest stage, you’ve got to have somebody help you. It’s only going to make the greats better. When you look at it, we talked about it yesterday, with LeBron, Michael, the greats, the GOATs, they’ve all been pushed to the limit and they’ve come back stronger and better.”
Luka Doncic has an impact on winning. Whether he’s a good defender or not, he knows what it takes to lead his team to victory. There aren’t many 25-year-olds in the NBA who can say they’ve led their team to two Western Conference Finals and one NBA Finals.
Will Luka win the 2024-25 NBA MVP award?
Then again, Doncic probably could have won the award in 2023-24. If the Mavericks finish in the top four and Doncic produces similar numbers, he will win the MVP award. Even if Luka’s numbers regress a bit, Doncic should still be at the top of the standings if the Mavs can finish at or near the top of the Western Conference.
